Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest
by Halloween Witch
Summary: Another day has come for a trainer to start their journey, and Piper Theron is no exception. She receives her first pokemon and heads off into the Unova region, easily stepping into the role of a good trainer, but then begins to question herself when a group of protesters claim that pokemon are being discriminated if owned by a trainer and all trainers... Full Summary Inside!
1. A Disatorus Event

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter_ _1: A Disastrous Event_

 **Third Person Point of View:**

It was dark all around… the air was brisk, like on the tip of a mountain. The room was lifeless, just rock and darkness.

Rosalie sat there in the darkness, holding herself close. Even with the pokemon of her fallen brother around her, none of them could bring her any comfort for what had taken place. She blamed herself… the unbearable pain of her brother being there only moments before, and in the time that she was gone, he fell between her fingers.

It was better, for all that were in the mountain that it was dark. Before the lights were removed… Rose had to remind herself that her brother was dead…

"Ms. Agustino?" A knock came at the door that led to her dark prison. "I've brought you some food."

A young man dared to enter the room, bringing light inside. He had to avert his eyes as he saw the bloody words that were written on the wall.

 _It's all your fault!_

 _He's dead because of you!_

 _You should have been there!_

 _He could have still been here!_

 _You should be the one dead!_

The young man passed by all the words he could see before he looked upon the woman. She had refused to eat the food that had been left out before and was failing with her body health. What was left of her body looked frail and thin, as if her prostatic limbs would fall off at any point. Her scars looked even ganglier then before when her body was healthy.

"Ms. Agustino, you should eat to keep up your strength…" the young male tried again, but he was only met with silence. In fear that he might anger Rosalie, he took the old tray then and left the room. Once he was left once more alone (other then the pokemon she had) she silently looked to the food, thinking of what Razi would often bring her before when he still lived before Eira Helaine had taken his life.

Something that she would _never_ forgive…

But for right now… all she could was grieve…

 **Piper's Point of View:**

I snickered as I took another look down in the hallway that was quiet as the early morning sun hadn't even hit the tops of the trees yet. It was still too early for anyone to be up, only about five.

But I knew they were up… those mischievous little brats…

I turned behind me and looked to my partner in crime, my twin brother Everett. He was dressed in some rags of an old shirt and pants while his shaggy brown hair shaped his head. His milk chocolate eyes glowed at me with mischief as he held the paintball gun in his hands.

Our referee stood above, my brother's pokemon Ruff, who was a rufflet. His fluffy white down feathers surrounded his chest and head while some of his feathers were beginning to turn smooth and grey under them and on his wings. A single feather of half red and half white color was on his head while large, black beady eyes sat back behind a slightly darker yellow beak.

He raised his feather covered wings into the air and cried out. "Let!"

I reached for my own duel set of paintball guns and checked them to be ready.

"Ruf!"

"Watch out little siblings…" I could only grin. "Big Sis is gonna keep the crown on her head…

"Rufflet!"

We dove from our hiding spot just as I saw my little sister Nikki come into view. She had a style similar to myself with the duel guns, but hers were too big for her to handle and she cried out as my guns went off and covered her entire body with red paint, while she missed me and hit the back wall with blue.

"You got it in my hair!" she complained, throwing down the guns.

"Look out Nikki!" The girl gasped as Everett rushed out and shot at Nick, my little brother, who pushed our sister out of the way of the fire. He was soon covered in paint before he could even let out another set of paint against me.

Nick was covered in red paint and sighed before looking up at his younger twin. "Come on Nikki! You knew she was going to aim for your hair! Why didn't you put it up or take a shower after the match!"

"Well excuse me for not wanting to break my routine!" Nikki huffed before she turned to look at Everett and I who were unmarked by the events. "Rematch!"

"Oh I'll be leading this rematch Nichole…" We all froze at the voice that echoed above us with power that we were all slightly fearful of. "What in the hell were you all doing?!"

"Run!" My cry was enough to get all my siblings to flee just as our father came barreling down the stairs after us.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"I can't believe the lot of you…" my father groaned. "On the last day… you _had_ to make it the messiest…"

Our father had us lined up before him on the couch, youngest to eldest. I was the eldest out of the bunch here being the elder twin of myself and Everett while Nick was only a few minutes older then Nikki, but two years were the difference between us sets of twins.

Our father stood before us; dressed finally while he glared down at the four of us he called his children. He was a rough looking man with wild, spiky chocolate colored hair and stubble to match. His skin was fairly tanned from the hours he worked outside on landscaping. His tattoos shown all over his body, mostly on his back, chest and upper arms, but a single one was on the inside of his forearm, which was our mother's name: Ava. His brown eyes glared down at us as we all hung our heads before him.

"Sorry Dad…" Everett started, daring to try and speak with him. "We just wanted to make our last day with our family a memorable one before Piper and I leave to go on a pokemon journey, now that she and the others are getting pokemon."

His eyes bore down on his eldest son. "And that gives you permission to stain the house with paint?!"

"We made sure it was able to wash off! Even if it hardens!" Nikki quickly spoke up. "I couldn't live if it stayed in my hair, so we made sure it was that kind. Its chalk based so it will wash out no matter what Daddy."

"Then you four better get to washing it off then!" He ran a hand through his hair. "Landorus damn it… I was hoping this day would be a good one where I didn't have to yell at you guys…"

"We know Dad…" I muttered as I looked up at him. He seemed stressed again, and normally our pranks never bother him so long as we can clean up the mess and don't bother him.

Perhaps my brother and I needed to head out sooner then I thought.

Having a single father raise four kids, all of them over the top with their craziness, it isn't exactly fair or easy on anyone.

My father groaned another time before he looked around the house. "Alright you kids, get cleaning. Izzy and Bell are going to be over here soon and I need to make breakfast for all you crazies."

"Yes Dad." All of us rose from the couch, rubbing the back of our heads as we felt where our father had slapped us upside the head. Our father wasn't abusive in any way, but he would hit us if we did something incredibly stupid or dangerous. My three siblings headed off to grab some water, soap and towels and clean up while I walked over to my father.

"Dad?" He looked up at me. Once my father saw me standing before him, he sighed and sat down at our dinning room table that seemed to avoid our battle earlier in the morning. "Everything okay?"

"It's fine Piper…" I dared to sit down next to him and noticed under the piles of forms for jobs he planned to do soon was a stack of bills.

"Dad…" He shoved them out of view when he noticed I saw them.

"Don't worry about it Piper."

"I do worry, since you're stressed all the time now." I lifted a hand up to his shoulder. "Ev and I will be heading out soon and we're going to make some money out there and send it home to help you out."

"No, your money should be saved up for other things you want to do when you get older." My father shook his head. "Besides, with you two out of the house, some of my bills will cut down. Like food and pranks."

I chuckled lightly at him. "Nick and Nikki will still be at each other's throats though."

He snorted. "Don't remind me." My father shook his head before he gestured up the stairs. "Go ahead and get dressed, then get started on breakfast. I'll be sending the others up after you."

"Kay!" I hurried up the stairs after that to go hop into a quick shower before me and the others would be heading out soon, and taking care of one final thing before we got to begin our adventure.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

After a quick shower, I got dressed into the new clothes that Dad had set aside money for me to use in order to look the part when we headed out. Once I had pulled up my ripped shorts over my hips, I pulled a white spaghetti strapped shirt and then a sleeveless black vest shirt over that. I pulled on my black boots that came over my ankles and then put up most of my long dark chocolate colored hair into a ponytail. Once that was out of my way, I grabbed my hat and pulled the hair through the hole in the back of the cap, it was white in color with a soft pink pokeball image on the front with the rim being the same pink as well. My bag on my side matched the same color while a black and pink xtransceiver that I would be able to use to communicate with my friends and family on the go.

Once I was dressed, I looked over at my mirror at my appearance. My ocean blue eyes glowed in eagerness and happiness over what was going to take place soon. Not only would my journey start, but I would have some… incredible moments with Izzy…

I snickered at the thought before I heard a cry. My eyes widened before I hurried down the stairs to make sure it wasn't one of my family that found what I left behind for my close friend.

I don't know how he's still my friend after all that I've done to him…

"PIPER THERON!" My eyes rushed to the door and everyone's eyes were on the young man who stood there with the same paint all over his body. Isadore Gyan, one of my closets friends (I normally called him Izzy) stood in the doorway coated in thick blue paint, what hadn't been used by my younger siblings when they faced off against us. You could barely see his shoulder length black hair under the thick paint or his clothes.

Hey, I had to go out with a bang.

"You got him!" Nikki hurried over to my side and giggled with the paint still all over her. "But getting Izzy is easy… he practically walks into it every time!"

"Don't worry dude," Everett walked up to Izzy and elbowed his side, knowing fully well that he'd get some paint on him since he was getting in the shower now that I was out. "It comes out. Its chalk based."

"Piper-" My father came around the corner only to see Izzy covered in paint and growling under the thick layer. My father sighed and grabbed a towel and threw it to our friend. "Go on and use the shower kid, I'll wash your clothes, gotta do Ev and Nick's anyway…"

Izzy didn't say a word while he marched past us all and headed up the stairs to our shower, leaving a trail of blue paint in his wake. My father pointed at the mess and looked at me.

"You'll be cleaning that up."

I grinned at him. "I was already planning on it!"

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Hello!" I turned my head as another person came through the front door. Shoulder length blond hair quickly came into my vision along with rich green eyes that glittered at the prospect of the day. I knew she had snuck out of her house in order to meet up with us. "Hey there Piper!"

"Bell!" I hurried over to the girl and hugged her. Isabella Adhira was the other of my two closest friends, besides Izzy and my brother Everett. She was the only other girl, so we liked to chat and work together often, to the disappointment of her father. Bell's father was overprotective of her and didn't want her to explore and discover what she could and couldn't do in this world, so often she was confined to our town. However, Izzy, Everett and I often snuck her out to explore and check out the areas around that were filled with pokemon, and swim on the beach to the south. Because of all of this, her father never trusted me…

Not like I gave him a reason to…

I pulled back from Bell to see her outfit. She had chosen a cute white dress that hugged her body well and came down to her knees with an orange sleeveless vest over her dress. She wore a round green hat on her head with a matching bag against her side. Her legs were covered in orange stockings and her shoes were simple flats. I'd have to take her shopping late on for better clothes… since those would only do so well before the terrain got rough…

"You look cute," I commented and she smiled.

"You think so? It was the oldest clothes I could escape out with!" She pouted and turned her head. "My dad keeps a constant eye on all my clothes and throws them out if they look too rough, so this was all I could grab that didn't look too fancy or over the top!"

I chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, once we get some money, I'll help you chose out new clothes that will be easier for travel. Because its gonna be hell to hike a mountain in a dress and flats like those."

She nodded with a pout. "I know… thanks Piper."

"No problem, hopefully the others will be down soon so we can choose our pokemon and get going." I looked around the house. "I know Dad hid them somewhere and fed them last night and this morning, but we haven't had a chance to look at them yet."

"Good!" Bell gave me a sad face. "I don't want you to take all the cute ones!"

I snickered at her. "I'm sure all of them are cute Bell, the professor warned us they would be young pokemon. Not much battle experience."

"And then we'll head out right?" Bell looked nervously back at her house. "If my father sees me leave…"

"Your legal age now Bell, we already got your card and everything for you." I handed the girl over a contest case and a badge case as well as a trainer card that had her picture on it from where it had been set on the counter along with Everett and my things. "We just need to make sure that when we leave we head on the back side of town so he can't see us."

"I know…" Bell groaned and walked inside where I closed the door so we could get settled.

"Mornin' Bell." We both turned to look at my father while he was putting the finishing touches on breakfast for the six of us in the house, not including himself.

"Morning Scott!" She smiled at my father before hurrying over to the counter. "Are we seeing the pokemon after breakfast?"

"Yeah, I got them all sitting in their pokeballs in the other room for when everyone's done. Piper, as you can see, is all set, but the others are cleaning up. Izzy had come over earlier, but Piper hit him with some paint and he had to get cleaned up and wash his clothes, so he's currently hiding upstairs. Ev should be done soon and the younger twins should be ready whenever Nikki gets done using that bathroom…"

"I'm not that bad Daddy!" Nikki came storming down then with herself all dressed. She was now clothed in a sleeveless pink top and black shorts. Her hair was pulled back into two buns on either side of her head with some hair slipping out. Her ocean blue eyes, which matched mine, narrowed at our father. "Its Nick who takes all that time to jell up his hair!"

"Does not!" Nick flew down the stairs with his hair all over the place and his brown eyes zeroed in on his twin. Simple white shorts and a blue sleeveless shirt were on him. "Who took half an hour to do her hair up in a special way?!"

Nikki huffed and turned her head. "Oh, and letting your 'special conditioner' sit for _forever_ doesn't take a long time?!"

"Shut it!" Our father snapped over them and they looked at him sheepishly. "You both take a hell of a lot of time. Eat up and be quiet."

The younger twins snarled at each other before turning their heads away from their respected other half. They made their way to the counter before the arguing started all over again. My father could only sigh as he milked away a headache.

"Looks like they're having fun." My younger twin came down the stairs next and I saw that he was dressed in his new clothes like I was for our journey. He had on dark grey pants with a black short sleeved shirt and a blue jacket over that which seemed light. His brown eyes looked at our younger siblings while he shook out his hair and set his red and white cap upon it. Red shoes covered his feet.

"Guess so." I shrugged and looked up at the stairs. "Izzy nearly ready?"

"I was ready _before_ you hit me with all that paint…" I turned my head to see my best friend glaring at me. Izzy's black hair was smoothly framing his face, looking slightly longer with it wet. His red rimmed glasses were set before his dark hazel eyes. His clothes consisted of a white shirt with orange trim and black pants. Blue shoes were on his feet with a matching light jacket over his shoulders.

I turned to grin at him, which only made him madder. "Oh I was just a good morning gift!"

"Gift my ass…" he snarled under his breath as he walked over to the counter. He stopped when he looked at the food before turning to my father. "Did she touch any of this yet?"

"Nope, you're just in time kid." My father set down a plate of pancakes that was situated with bacon, hash browns and sausage. "Dig in before she does."

Without hesitation this time, Izzy dug into the meal before him and ate strait away. I laughed while he did so and soon all of us were eating away at our food that we had before us.

"Can we watch Piper, Bella and Izzy get their new pokemon Dad?" Nick asked when we got closer to finishing our meal.

"I don't see why you can't, but everyone's gotta finish their meal first, and I'm not speeding up for you rug-rats." Dad casually ate a bite his meal, setting in place the rule.

It was hard not to be excited for this new journey that would be before us. All four of us, myself, Everett, Bell and Izzy, were going to begin our pokemon journeys. While Everett already had Ruff already, the other three of us didn't have any pokemon yet, so the professor in the nearby town that we had gotten into contact with agreed to give us each a pokemon if all four of us did a favor for her while on our journeys.

Her name was Professor Aurea Juniper. She lived in the same town as us, living in the mostly isolated town of Nuvema. She was researching the origins of pokemon, finding only this location to be able to focus rather then in the spot light where reporters often were in the more populated towns and cities. I had to assume that what she wanted us to do for her was related to her studies.

We planned to go thank her and find out what she wanted us to do after our breakfast, since we all planned on being trainers for a while, but we were waiting for Bell to become thirteen so she was legal and could get a card made, but since her father was so protective, we couldn't leave right away. We had to wait a month or two and only when her father loosened his grip just enough did we plan to strike.

And damn it, we're getting her out of here!

"Alright you brats, Izzy, Bella, go ahead." My father's finished plate was shown to all of us after we had finished a while ago. We all rushed to our feet and hurried into all the rooms to search for the box of pokeballs. When I searched in the family room in the back where our parent's wedding photosat on the wall, I found them seated on the table. My eyes widened and I screeched out.

"FOUND THEM!" Footsteps stomped through the house as everyone rushed to the room that I was in. Bell and Izzy stepped forward and I pulled the top off of the box. I saw three simple pokeballs along with a note inside.

" _Here are three pokemon for you three to choose from! Please settle your choices politely! Enjoy your new pokemon!_ "

"Oh I can't wait!" Bell jumped excitedly in her spot. "Let the pokemon out Piper! I wanna see them!"

"Kay!" I quickly released all the pokemon from their pokeballs and three little bodies appeared before us.

The first of them was red in color, which I could imagine was the fire type. It stood on four legs with a snout and a large pink nose. It had some small floppy ears on its head and a small black tail with a pink little circle on the end of it. Its black eyes looked at all of us in question with a tilt of its head.

The second one was blue and white in color that I thought was a water type. It stood on two legs with a little tail behind it. On its chest was a yellow shell that it removed and used to scratch its belly with. Its face had little freckles on it and its black eyes looked up at us hopefully.

The last was a green in color, who I assumed was a grass type. Its body was long and reminded me almost of ivy from a vine. Its eyes were a rich rose red color that looked around until they met mine. It had a mischievous sort of look to its eyes and I matched that look that it gave me. It stood on two small feet with a long tail behind it that had leaves on the end of it and long snout on its face. Its little arms were crossed before it over its chest.

"Oh their so cute!" Bell couldn't stop squirming in her spot. "I can't decide which one I want!"

"Bella isn't wrong; they all look quite capable…" Izzy looked over the three pokemon before us.

"I'm pretty sure I know which one I want." My eyes still were held by the grass type that kept up the look in its eye to me. I saw its eye brows rise in question while I continued to hold its gaze. "How about it little grass pokemon? Would you mind me as your trainer?"

"Sni?" The grass type looked up at me. "Snivy sni?"

"Well I guess you'll have to stick around me and find out." My arms mimicked its actions and also crossed over my arms over my chest. "Your choice."

"…Sni." The pokemon winked at me before it jumped up onto my shoulder. It settled itself on my left side before looking down at its companions.

"Oh! There's more on this note!" Bell held it up and read on the back. " _The three pokemon you will be choosing between are a male tepig, a female oshawott and a female snivy, in the respective order of fire, water and grass types. Enjoy!_ " Bell turned to look at me. "So that means you have the female snivy, Piper!"

"Well then, how about a nick name?" I turned to the pokemon. "I think you deserve your own name. So how about Ivy? A sleek name for someone like yourself."

"Sni!" She seemed to really like the name and raced around my body before she landed in the middle of my arms. I held onto her while I took the pokeball that I knew was her's into my arms.

"I want this one then!" Bell raced forward and grabbed the female oshawott and held the pokemon in her arms, snuggling her face into the pokemon's. "She's so cute!"

"Bell!" Izzy snarled at her before he sighed. "Fine… I wanted Tepig anyway."

"Pig!" The fire type hopped up into Izzy's arms and relaxed there and my friends quickly grabbed their pokeballs.

"Alright, now that you kids are set, go on and talk to the professor and get out of here before that crazy Marco comes flying over here to kidnap his daughter and lock her away for good." My father shooed us away from the room after grabbing us in hugs. "I love you guys, much as you drive me crazy."

"We love you too Dad." After our hug was done, we hurried to the door, looking out for Bell's father before seeing him peaking out the window of their home. "Crap, we gotta return our pokemon so he doesn't suspect anything."

The others nodded and returned their pokemon. The only one who didn't was Everett due to Marco knowing about Ruff for a year or so now since he came into our lives. Once our pokemon were returned, we walked out the door, trying to act as normal as possible. Other then our strange clothes, Marco didn't seem to notice much as we passed and headed to the other side of town where we would meet up with the professor.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It took us a few minutes to walk across the town, and only when we got far enough away from our houses did we release our pokemon back out. Bell's father was over the top when it came to many things, so we didn't want to tempt him with our trip to the professor's laboratory.

We stopped outside of her door and looked it over, seeing the advanced technology just by looking through the window. It stunned all of us before Izzy pushed his way through the door, bringing us back into reality and followed him inside.

Once we arrived inside, it was easy to see that the professor was well into her work. She sat at her desk across the room, surrounded by machines and computers as well as many ancient books and documents or copies of artifacts. She was in the middle of working on something when she noticed us before her in her laboratory. She smiled and stood up before coming over to us.

Professor Juniper was a fairly young woman; she only seemed to be in her early thirties. Her hair was pulled back into a bun with her bangs hanging out, all of it a pale brown color. Ruby colored earrings hung from her earlobes and a pale sky blue lab coat covered her body, with a white shirt and dark green skirt under it. Her eyes were a pale green, but filled with eagerness as she stood before all of us, her hands in her pockets.

"Good to see you four again!" she smiled at us. "As I'm sure you kids remember the last time I saw you, I promised to give you pokemon in return for you all helping me with a task, correct?"

"Correct Professor." Izzy adjusted his glasses as he responded to her.

"Oh but look at you all!" Her eyes glittered as she looked around at us. "And Snivy! Look how close you are with your trainer already! You must have only met her only a short while ago!"

I smiled and rubbed the pokemon's head affectionately. "Thank you Professor, but just for the record, her name is Ivy. You should honor that."

"Sni!" Ivy agreed and pouted at the professor.

The professor rubbed the back of her head. "My bad… but its good to see that she has a nickname and that you're getting close to her, I'm glad." She turns to my brother. "Oh and you and your rufflet look wonderful! Ruff adores you and I see you must have pulled a few pranks recently for him to have that look to his eyes."

Everett blinked a few times before looking at his pokemon in shock. "Wow Professor, you really know pokemon."

"It is my life's work after all." She hummed before leaning back against her desk. "But back to the point, I wanted to ask you kids for help with the latest project that many trainers are taking all over the world, and that's to discover all the pokemon in the region and the world. As of right now, I would like you kids to focus on what truly lives just in our own region by catching as many pokemon as you want and training them, choosing the path that suits you best."

"So I'm assuming this has to do with the pokedex?" Izzy questioned.

"Pokedex?" Bell tilted her head in confusion.

"A pokedex is a device that allows you to record the information about any pokemon you encounter and store it in the device for me to later view and copy over to continue my research, as well as many other professors who are assisting me and the project as well. We built the pokedex nearly six years ago and only a few have been handed out. Many of the people who have received pokedex make a large name for themselves, much like the IPHP League that you see chasing Rosalie Agustino." The professor tapped her chin as she looked at us eagerly. "So you'll do it right? Between the four of you I imagine it should be a piece of cake."

"Sure, besides, we wouldn't be able to be trainers without your help in getting around Bell's father." I patted the younger girl's shoulders and she looked at me happily. "Least we can do along the way. I bet that Izzy's gonna do most of the work for it anyway."

"Of course, relying on you to do it would take a century with how much time you focus on your pranks." Izzy barely looked at me while he said the rude comment, but I raised an eye brow at him.

"Come again?"

"Sni!" Before I could see it, a barrage of leaves was hurled at Izzy. He cried out in shock and dodged nearly all of them before one nicked the top of his hair. He felt the hair that had been cut and glared at my pokemon.

"Keep that pokemon of yours under control!" he snapped at me. "She could have killed me!"

"Then maybe you shouldn't piss her off?" I chuckled at him while Ivy prepared to attack again while the professor stepped between us.

"Now, now, wouldn't you all like to learn more about your pokemon?" Juniper had my attention at that. She was handing out pokedex to all of us. Mine was a snow white color while I saw that Bell's was a pale green. My brother's was a solid black and Izzy's was a burnt orange.

Once I had the device in hand, I began holding it before the pokemon around us to learn about them, starting with my friends, then my brother, and then my own pokemon last.

 _Tepig, the fire pig pokemon. It can deftly dodge its foe's attacks while shooting fireballs from its nose. It roasts berries before it eats them. When it catches a cold, the fire becomes pitch black smoke instead. There are no known tepig nests in this region._

 _Oshawott, the sea otter pokemon. It fights using the scalchop on its stomach. In response to an attack, it retaliates immediately by slashing. The scalchop on its stomach isn't just used for battle—it can be used to break open hard berries as well. There are no known oshawott nests in the area._

 _Rufflet, the eaglet pokemon. They will challenge anything, even stronger opponents, without gear. They frequent fights help them become stronger. They crush berries with their talons. Rufflet nests are rare and are more seen on routes ten, eleven and on the Victory Road in this region._

 _Snivy, the grass snake pokemon. It is very intelligent and calm. Being exposed to lots of sunlight makes its movements swifter. It uses vines more adeptly then its hands. When they are not feeling well, their tails droop. There are no known snivy nests in this region._

I grinned when I saw all the information and that I already have four pokemon listed on my pokedex. There were so many more that I would run into while I continued on my journey, and hopefully I would meet and make a team that I could be proud of that would respect and care about me as a trainer.

"And another thing before you kids head off, some pokeballs for all of you to catch pokemon with." She handed us a good ten each before she grabbed her bag and began to walk toward the door. "I'm heading out to the next town to gather a package that's been sent over from a friend of mine, so I'll meet you kids there and see how you're doing. And take your time, enjoy your journeys and make the most of them!"

And with that, she was out the door and we were all looking at ourselves in shock how fast she was here one moment and then gone the next.

"We should probably get going too, before Bell's father finds out about this." Everett rubbed the back of his head worriedly.

"Yeah, let's go." I led the others out the door and we took and headed toward the path that would lead us to route one where we would begin our journey.

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Oh my god! Can you guys believe we've made it to the beginning of our fifth book! We've come a long way since two thousand and thirteen! Now we're on book five and another crazy story is about to unfold! I hope we're all excited for it, because I know I am!**

 **So here we are introduced to a lot of characters! We have our main character Piper and her brother Everett Theron, as well as their best friends Izzy Gyan and Bell Adhira. And as you can see, they get along well enough, when Piper isn't pranking them!**

 **What do you guys think of the new characters and their families? Even if we don't know much about Izzy's family yet! Let me know what you think in a Review or Send in any Questions you have!**

 **And before I forget, for those of you who have recently joined our stories and don't know about the Questions and Answers page by now, please go back and read the previous four stories (Violet's Trial, Gwyn's Passage, Jezebel's Voyage, and Eira's Adventure) and read the description I've placed. I think after writing it four times I can get away with it now.**

 **So I gotta go work on the next chapter, but now I got something to work with! See you guys next week with the next one! Love you all!**

 **Okay, so I kind of lied a bit. So I'm going on vacation off in another state for a bit, about a week and a half long, so there is a chance that I won't be able to post the next chapter on Saturday, depending on how strong the signal is there. So if I do have signal, then there's nothing to worry about, but if I don't… there will be a double update on the following Saturday.**

 **Also please forgive any mistakes I have in this chapter, I haven't heard from my beta reader since the end of Eira's Adventure and have been unable to get in contract with her, thus, this chapter is not edited. Please look past that and let me know what you think of this chapter my wonderful readers!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	2. Liberation

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 2: Liberation?_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

We hurried across the last section of town before we made it to the sign that showed us it was the entrance to route one. We were walking right toward it before Bell stopped us.

"Wait!" We all halted at her voice.

"What is it?" I blinked at her. "Did we forget something?"

"No, but I want us to take our first step on our journey together!" Bell grinned at us. "This is the start of our adventure and I want it to be memorable!"

"Seriously Isabella?" Izzy sighed. "Of all the things…"

"Oh shut it Iz, let's do this and keep moving north." Everett grinned before taking Bell's hand in his. "Besides, I think this is cool!"

Bell grinned when she saw she had Everett on board and cheered when she had me as well. I grabbed the other hand of my brother while Ivy leapt up to my shoulder.

"Let's do this, together like we had planned!" I held my hand out for Izzy to take and he looked at it like it would attack him.

"Does it look like I would trust you?"

"Damn it Izzy, take my fucken hand or so help me I will make your life miserable with pranks for the next twenty-four hours of our journey that you broke Bell's heart."

Izzy only sighed then before tentatively letting his hand fall into mine. I grabbed it roughly and gave him a look before turning back to my brother and Bell. "Alright, let's do this! Count down to one!"

"Three!" Bell cheered.

"Two!" Everett laughed.

"This is so stupid…" I kicked Izzy's shin.

"One!" I chuckled as Bell, Everett and I walked over the line and Izzy I dragged over with us. Bell was so excited to be out of the town as an official trainer and with her own pokemon with us finally that she threw her pokemon into the air. She squealed before Bell caught her water type and she hugged Oshowatt closer to her.

"This is so exciting!" Bell just couldn't get over her happy mood, no matter how much Izzy apparently was trying to ruin it.

"Can we move on now?" Izzy seemed annoyed still about making him wait longer then he wanted.

I pouted at him. "You're being really sour right now, can't give Bell just a few minutes to enjoy this? This is an amazing relief and wonderful beginning for her!"

Izzy groaned. "I simply wish to keep moving and become stronger, isn't that the point of a pokemon journey?"

"Well, yeah," my brother through in. "But you're supposed to have fun to, and get to know your pokemon, care about them, make friends or spend time with friends." Everett gave Izzy a look. "You just seem like you want to escape us entirely."

"Well maybe if you did something that I would also be interested in, perhaps I would," Izzy retorted back sourly.

"Why not a pokemon catching contest?" Bell suddenly suggested.

"…What?" Izzy questioned, not entirely catching what she said.

"Let's have a pokemon catching contest!" Bell explained herself once more to the raven haired male that we called a friend. "We'll compete against each other to see how many different kinds of pokemon we can find and capture them, not only for us to learn more about them, but to practice capturing and help the professor's research."

"That… actually sounds like a good idea…" Izzy nodded his head slowly while a finger rose to his chin while he thought over the idea. "So what would be the rules? Would we all compete?"

"I'll se the rules because I don't plan on participating, so I'll be the judge." Bell looked over at me strangely with a worried look. "I don't want to catch pokemon just for the hell of it, if they want to be on my team, then so be it, otherwise, I'll just train."

"Hey, if that's your choice Piper, then that's what it is." My brother shrugged his shoulder. "Rules for the rest of us?"

"Let's have everyone's starter pokemon count as one of the pokemon caught, after that, any other pokemon you find on the route and catch will be apart of the scoring. So everyone's on the same page. The boundaries of the game will be until we reach the next town, which should be later tonight, considering everyone takes their time to train and capture pokemon. I'll go ahead and head out first in order to try and stay a bit ahead of you guys. Okay?"

"Sounds good, we'll see you in a bit Sis." I gave my brother a fist bump before heading off down the route with Ivy contently sitting on my shoulder.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Alright Ivy! Use vine whip!"

My grass type pokemon threw out the vines that came from her tail and quickly they knocked back the lilipup that had decided to attack us. It rolled over before looking startled at us and took off into the woods.

I grinned as I saw Ivy take down another pokemon while we trained on the route here. We did have a few encounters with wild pokemon and the like, but soon we were left alone as we walked the path.

I enjoyed the company of my pokemon. She was easy to get a long with and had a mostly laid back personality such as myself, but she also had a mischievous streak to her which could only make me grin. She wanted to be involved more heavily in the next prank I pulled on Izzy (and he was _so_ getting one after what he'd said to Bell.)

While we had been walking on the route, we had encountered a few pokemon which we added the data to the pokedex. One of them had been a small fluffy, four legged pokemon that often barked at me, shaking its tan coat. Another was a rich dark brown pokemon with bright red eyes and a white fluffy end to its tail. The last one had been a pokemon that stood on two legs that was both tan and pink in color, but I only got a look at one before it ran off when Ivy was beating it.

 _Lilipup, the puppy pokemon. It faces strong opponents with great courage. But when at a disadvantage in a fight, this intelligent pokemon flees. The long hair around its face provides an amazing radar that lets it sense subtle changes in its surroundings. Lilipup newts are common on routes one, two and three._

 _Patrat, the scout pokemon. Using food stored in check pouches, they can keep watch for days. They use their tails to communicate with others. Extremely custious, one of them will always be on the lookout, but it won't notice a foe coming from behind. Patrat nests are fairly common and live on route one and two, as well as the Dreamyard._

 _Audino, the hearing pokemon. It touches other with the feelers on its ears, using the sound of their heartbeats to tell them how they are feelings. It has a radar like ability to understand the surroundings through slight sounds. Audino nests are common, though to see one is rare. Their nests are found on routes one, two three, five, six, seven, nine, ten eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen, as well as the Dreamyard, Phinwheel Forest, Dragonspiral Tower, Giant Chasm, Abundant Shrine and Lostlorn Forest._

I had to admit, seeing all these cool pokemon in the area was really fun, and training against them was even better, the audinos especially. They had an incredible amount of defensive power in their little bodies which gave Ivy and myself quite the work out. When it came time to end things, Ivy would finally put down the final move and send the pokemon packing, but still leaving us doing well.

We traveled further and further into the forest before an idea popped up into my head. I blinked for a second before I turned to Ivy. "Hey Ivy?"

She turned her head up at me. "Sni?"

"You wouldn't happen to know if there is any bug pokemon near by, would you?" I snickered. "Because I need to get back at Izzy for being mean to Bell earlier."

"Sni!" She grinned and jumped off my shoulder in order to lead me over to where she either knew or one or saw one. I saw a little caterpie crawling around. It wasn't familiar to this area from what I had gathered, but the fact that it was here was amazing.

"Hello there little caterpie!" I waved my hands at it and it cautiously looked at us. "Hey, you wanna help us out pranking a friend of mine?"

"Pi?" It tilted its head at me.

"Oh don't you worry, it's just harmless fun and getting back at a friend that was mean to another person." I quickly pulled out a case of pecha berries in my bag and showed them to the pokemon, who drooled over them. "Would this be enough of a deal for you? A little help for all of these berries?"

"PI!" The little pokemon quickly began to eat them before climbing onto my shoulder.

"Alright, let's go and get ahead of the others, then we can get set up and you can enjoy the rest of your day little caterpie!" I petted the pokemon's head before I winked at Ivy. She winked back at me and we continued to move forward to the entrance to the next town.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Accumula was much more beautiful when I arrived there later in the evening, just after the sun had set, and I had watched the day progress into night. I was already waiting on my friends, had healed Ivy up at the pokemon center, and had set up rooms for all of us. I had placed us girls in one room and the boys in the other, since I knew that Izzy was going to absolutely want to murder me once he got here and what was planned happened…

"Piper!" I raised my head in order to see my brother and Bell emerge from the woods. The girl looked elated as she emerged with a new pokemon in her arms. It was a lilipup. She seemed to be attached to the little pokemon, which made me smile as she held it and her starter rested on her shoulder.

My brother seemed to have only Ruff with him, who had a few small wounds upon his body, but for the most part looked fine. My brother was rubbing the back of his head with Bell laughing as they made it to my side.

"What's got you so happy Bell?" I blinked at her.

"Ev didn't catch any pokemon since he was training so hard!" She giggled some more as she tried to calm down. "He totally forgot until I ran into him and it was dark!"

Everett chuckled himself. "Seems like I'm in dead last, bummer, but I got some wicked training in!"

I snickered at my brother, for the longest of time; he'd cared a great deal more for Bell that I knew he wouldn't admit. Everett had always been worried about her as she grew up with such a controlling father that Everett tried to bring her often as much as he could so that she could have a somewhat normal upbringing. I knew it would come out in time, but until then, I just enjoyed the fact that I knew and neither of them did.

I'm sure that Everett blew the contest, saying he would compete, when in reality he just wanted to train like myself. I knew he only wanted certain members to be apart of his team, so he was excited to get out of the house and find them. He probably wanted to come in dead last in order to boost up Bell's confidence to give her the push she probably needed to motivate her more then ever in her life.

"Guess that means you and I will have to train against each other Ev, I'm eager to see what it would be like to face off against a pokemon who had the advantage over us." I grinned at my brother and crossed my arms while Snivy was curled into my shoulder. She had taken a nap a short time after we arrived after all the training she had done. "But we should at least wait until tomorrow, Ivy wore herself out and after we meet with the professor, I'm going to bed. I'm tired too."

"Well should we look for Izzy then?" Bell asked curiously. "He's the only one we're waiting on."

"I'm right here Bell." We all lifted our heads to see Izzy emerge from the route with his starter pokemon most likely in its pokeball from the lack of it in sight. "And I'm sure we'll all tired, so shall we end this content? I've managed to capture two pokemon on the route besides having my starter."

"Awe boo!" Bell pouted before turning to Everett. "We both lost."

He patted her shoulder. "Hey, you gave it a hell of a shot and Lilipup adores you, that's all that really matters right now Bell."

She smiled at him. "I guess your right!"

"I won?" Izzy's eyes were wide before a proud smirk appeared on his face. He shifted his glasses. "It would seem that I am the victorious one today."

"Whatever you say Izzy." It was then that my male best friend looked at me worriedly as he saw the grin on my face before everything changed…

"AHH!" He was yanked off the ground then and all of his things feel to the ground. He quickly got dizzy from being thrown. He stilled for a moment to catch his bearings before looking up and seeing a caterpie there tying him off with string shot to keep him there. "Hey! What's the meaning of this?!"

I grinned as Ivy woke up and we both laughed at the sight of him. "Payback for the way you treated Bell this morning. Sucks to be you, eh?"

"PIPER!" Izzy's screaming didn't faze me as he thrashed around and his pokeballs fell. One of his pokeballs fell open to reveal his starter who was waking up from a nap. He screeched when he saw his trainer dangling above him like a piñata. "Tepig! Get me down!"

"You better move out of the way caterpie!" I waved to the pokemon I had help me with him. "And thanks for everything!"

"Pi!" The little bug pokemon scurried off along the branch to where its home in the forest must have been.

While that was going on and Caterpie was out of the way, the tepig blasted some fire up into the tree. The string shot melted with ease and Izzy fell, landing on his butt somehow. Izzy flinched at the landing before his eyes turned murderously at me.

"Piper…"

I pouted at him. "You should have known."

"Oh you are going to get it!"

And with that he was to his feet in no time at all. He came racing at me and I laughed as I turned on my heels and ran as well. I could hear my brother and Bell running behind us, trying to catch up as we ran across the city, myself leading the charge.

I ran away to the pokemon center where I stopped. I stopped there because the professor said she would meet us here. I found myself a seat on the couch in the front while Ivy rested on my lap.

The others came in a short moment after me. Izzy was out of breath as soon as he got inside the doors. He was more used to studying then moving. He nearly collapsed onto the ground as he gasped for breath. My brother and Bell were right behind him, Bell had climbed up onto my brother's back because of what she was wearing would prevent her from moving quickly, and my brother is used to running around with all the crazy things we've done in the past.

"I… hate… you…" Izzy managed to gasp out before his head hit the chair next to him, out of breath from those few simple words.

I held a hand to my chest and pouted. "Oh how you wound me cruel sir."

"There you all are!" The professor marched up to us as soon as we were before her. I was surprised to see a large egg in her arms as well as a large pile of papers or something in her briefcase that were nearly spilling out. "And how was your first day of being pokemon trainers?"

"Wonderful!" Bell squealed before any of us could say a word.

"That's good! Now let's see how well… Piper! You and Ivy look so close now!" The professor raised an eye brown. "I have a feeling the two of you did something a little… more mischievous then normal? I had a feeling the two of you would be a good match when I sent out those three pokemon."

"Of course they did," Izzy spat. "They pranked me!"  
"Oh don't be so sour, that's part of the journey!" Izzy deadpanned as the professor didn't even think anything bad about it. "Now it seems you all have some new pokemon! I see that cute lilipup in your arms Bell!"

"Thanks!" Bell was ecstatic. "We had a contest on the last route to see who could catch the most, Piper was our judge so she didn't participate."

"Really?" The professor blinked at me. "Why not?"

"I don't like to take on pokemon that didn't want to be apart of my team. The only reason I agreed to take on Ivy was because before hand, you said these pokemon all wanted to have trainers." I looked down at Ivy and she looked at me with wide eyes. "So she was okay with it. But those pokemon out in the wild are just going about their lives and don't need to be taken away from their families unless they want to, so I didn't feel it was right."

"What a reasoning…" the professor mulled over my words for a bit before she smiled at me. "It's not often that trainers like you come along Piper. Most are just so concerned with getting more pokemon, becoming stronger and moving forward, but you take the time to think about their feelings as well. That's very commendable, and I think you should have this."

The professor then handed me over the egg in her arms. It was a colorful egg to say the least. It was white in some sots while it faded to a sunset color and then red. It was gorgeous to look at, and I faulted a bit as I took it into my arms.

"What is this egg professor? It's beautiful…"

"It's a pokemon egg. We assume it to be a fire type of some sort, or at least, that was what my friend said when it was dropped off. Apparently it had been found near the desert area around route four and looked to have been abandoned after it was left for nearly a whole day without interference. It was then removed and handed over to me, seeing as how I am a professor and may be able to shed some light." She rubbed the back of her head nervously. "However, I can only do so much as a professor. Pokemon eggs should truly be the hands of trainers such as yourself or experienced people who know how to raise and hatch eggs. It would be better in your care."

"You think so?" I blinked at her before looking over the egg again. I wouldn't lie and say I wasn't attracted to it because of its beautiful colors, but was it really safe to put into my hands?

"You really want to give her that?" Izzy seemed to also agree with that statement I was thinking off. And while I was thinking it, I didn't need him to say it in such a rude light.

"Sni!" Ivy beat me to lashing back out at him and smacked him with one of her vines. She was tired, irritable, and most certainly not a pokemon you wanted to piss off at the moment.

"Easy there Ivy," I petted her head with a single hand that didn't hold the egg. "We'll get him with something else in the morning."

Izzy seemed to pale at that and visibly backed away from us. I snickered at him before looking over the egg once more and mulling over the idea.

It was abandoned, which means it needed someone to care for it. However, I didn't want to give the poor pokemon a blind illusion that it had to stay with me once it hatched. When pokemon were first hatched from eggs, they see the first living thing that comes into their vision as their mother. When this pokemon hatched, I would be its mother and caregiver. I would raise it more intensely then I would your average pokemon, because besides just love, training and food that normal pokemon need, baby pokemon need constant attention during the first few months to a year.

Could I handle all of that?

"Well… I won't know until I try right?" I grinned up at the others before nodding to the professor. "Sure, I'll take the egg."

"Excellent!" Professor Juniper looked to be thrilled. "I want updates on its progress and all that's happened to it as you travel if you can Piper. Now I'd best be off for home and I'll try to delay Marco in order to give you kids some rest before you head out to the next town."

"Much appreciated professor." Everett tipped his cap to her before she burst out the door to home. It was once she was gone that I stretched and handed my brother the key to his and Izzy's room.

"Shall we?" I headed up to the rooms first. We all quickly headed up and Everett handed the key over to Izzy before the young man hurried inside the room, thinking that would save him. I chuckled lightly while Bell walked past me, taking the key and heading into our room.

"You shouldn't tease him so much Piper. You've already gotten him two or three times today." Bell gave me a smile before heading into her and my room.

I turned to my brother who was still out in the hallway with me. "Shall we do a double tonight?"

"You know; we haven't done a double in a long time. Why the hell not?" Everett grinned. "I got some stuff I brought with me, and I'm sure you did too."

I held a hand to my chest, as if I was offended. "My dearest brother, you know me better then that to leave my things at home!"

He chuckled and headed to his room then. "Want anything before bed?"

"Well… there is one thing…"

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It was some time in the middle of the night when I quickly woke myself up and Ivy as well. While she was still very tired, she put that aside for the time being to come and help me. We rose from the bed and my eyes widened when I saw what was around Bell.

I shook my head and looked away. _I have to wait for the surprise damn it!_

My brother never treated Bell badly when it came to pranking her, and often it was much less harmful or demeaning then what I did to Izzy since he was more likely to piss all of us off then Bell. He had used a simple prank, just something to startle her, but it would still freak her out none the less.

I hurried over to our door and double checked that it was still unlocked, but it was locked this time when I checked it. Everett had re-locked it when he left sometime ago. I quietly left the room and headed out into the hallway, Ivy clinging to my shoulder in suspense.

We headed out of our own room to the guys who were right next to us. I quietly just turned the knob to see if it was unlocked like Everett promised he would leave it, and it was just as such. But I had to be careful, with pranking Izzy as often as I had, I needed to be on guard for whatever defenses he might have set up.

"Ivy, use your vines to open the door a bit, we needed to make sure there's nothing waiting for us…"

"Sni…" She nodded to me and obeyed my command with no trouble at all. She opened the door and quickly we pulled back.

"Shit… he's using his pokemon like a guard lilipup now…" I nearly hissed out when I saw Izzy's tepig just in the entrance to the door. I'm sure Izzy knew I'd be in there at some point into the night and didn't want to take any chances.

However, I saw the pokemon was rolled over to the other side, not looking at us or noticing the door open. I'm sure Everett was forced to face this as well; perhaps Tepig was a heavy sleeper like Izzy was?

I opened the door just a hair more and I saw the pokemon was still, breathing, but unmoving. I dared to look past it in order to see that both boys were fast asleep. I could see Ruff blink at the light, I'd woken him, but at the sight of me, he simply curled away and went back to sleep.

"Thanks Ruff…" I then checked the floor for anything to see if Izzy had left some noise makers that would prevent me from reaching him. Izzy had startled me one day a few years ago when he had left them all around him when I was approaching, planning to set a prank, and it alerted him to my being there. I never fell for it again, but that was because I was extremely careful not to step on any.

Thankfully, I couldn't see any, so it was just getting into the room and getting my stuff.

I'd had Everett go out and buy some random last minute items in order to really get at Izzy this time. It was just annoying how he was so sour in the last day when it was supposed to be a good day for all of us that the need to prank him hard was through the roof. I wasn't being nice tonight about it. Not this time.

Everett had left out all the items I needed and I quickly got to work with what I planned to do. It was a three-part plan; the first two parts would happen instantly while the third would be a much longer lived part that I would enjoy for at least a few days.

Ivy was a huge help getting everything set up in the room, especially since some of the things I was doing needed to be hung from the ceiling. Her vines were needed terribly for that.

Once I had finished that portion, I hurried into the bathroom to see what Izzy had placed there for his shampoo. I looked at the white bottle and saw that it was new one, he had been prepared.

Well… so was I.

I pulled out some glue with me so I could make the seal appear like it was still new when I was done and looked inside to see that the shampoo itself had a red like color to it. I grinned when it was the color that I wanted and hurried out to grab the color of choice that would look pretty wild for the next few days. Once the color was in, I mixed it well before bagging the spoon and placing it in my pocket so that the evidence wouldn't be here. I screwed back on the cap and re-sealed it before placing it back exactly as I had found it.

Once that was over, I hid the extra items that Everett had left out for me when Izzy had gone to sleep in a bag that was next to them and I took it with me. Tepig still never moved, even as I re-locked the door and left the room, ready to go back to sleep.

 **Everett's Point of View:**

I woke up early the next morning, just about at sunrise, which this late in the fall would make it around seven, and I yawned before looking over at the massive prank that was before me.

Intricate strings were all around the bed room, some attached to Izzy himself while a large fan above had feathers on the blades, a few of them had fallen in the night and had tickled my nose, landing on my size of the room. Above Izzy was a large bucket filled with a few gallons of what appeared to be either molasses or syrup, either would be incredibly messy. Another thing that was set up was rubber bands that were attached to the strings all around the room with balloons that I could only assume that were filled with the same sticky substance, or water. I wasn't sure and I didn't dare stick around to find out.

I slipped out of my bed and made my way through the maze of strings before getting to the door. Ruff was awake and waiting for me to open it before he dared to fly out. I opened the door while Tepig once again didn't notice anyone entering or leaving the room. Ruff flew past me out into the hallway and hovered while I closed the door before he landed on my shoulder. I chuckled as I made my way down the stairs to where the café was.

I instantly saw Piper down there already with a mug of what appeared to be cocoa. She was sipping on it while eating at her food with Ivy and her egg next to her on the table, the grass pokemon happily munching away. Piper was dressed in comparison to me and looked to be ready to go at any second.

"Hey," she looked up at me as I greeted her.

"Hey there," she grinned. "Saw your work last night; I'm eager to see the reaction."

"I bet you are, and you are so going to get killed by Izzy once he sees and feels what you've set up for him." I chuckled and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. "I doubt it should be long now."

"Oh trust me; what was in the room is the least of his worries." Piper showed me a malicious smile and it made my body shiver at the sight. Piper always was another step ahead of everyone when it came to this.

"I was wondering about the dye colors you had me get, which one did you use and in what?"

She merely chuckled. "You'll see, but let's say that it may be a few days before the lasting effects of it really leave."

A sudden scream echoed out, and a girly one at that. I knew it was Bell the moment I heard it. Then afterword we heard a crash from up stairs and more screaming, but this time male.  
"EVERETT!"

"PIPER!"

She laughed. "Looks like we've been caught!"

"I guess so." I chuckled with her. "Should we wait here or face the music?"

"Well… we could, but I have another number playing, remember?" Piper looked up the sitars, waiting as two doors burst open. Bell was covered in shaving cream all over her clothes that had hardened and was also soaked to the bone with water. Izzy on the other hand…

"Damn you Piper!" He looked like… a rufflet… all covered in down feathers and sticky all over. I burst out laughing as soon as I saw him and gave my sister a high five.

"Nice one Pipe!"

"You didn't do to bad yourself Ev!"

"You two are meanies!" Bell shouted, looking somewhat mad. "I'm taking a shower and getting this stuff off of me…"

"I second that…" Izzy growled before taking off back into the room.

I turned back to Piper and chuckled. "So with the second part of your plan, should I plan on using your bathroom instead of mine?"

She snorted. "I would highly recommend it."

 **Piper's Point of View:**

It was only a short time later and both Bell and Everett were before me at breakfast. Bell was still a little mad at Everett, making him feel bad for pranking her. This was part of the reason why he didn't do it so often, because he didn't want to hurt Bell much with the life that she's gone through. Izzy I could care less about doing it to since he's always being rude and uncaring unless it benefited him.

"YOU BITCH!" I blinked when I heard a voice roar out in the pokemon center. It made Bell jump and she instantly latched onto Everett's arm.

"What did you do now?!" Bell worriedly asked me.

I only grinned at her. "Don't worry, Izzy will show you when he runs down."

And soon enough, what I had guessed _did_ happen. Izzy stormed down the stairs before he stood before me with color etched into his scalp and the color pink showing through, giving a bit of a red tint to his black hair. Bell gasped and Everett burst out laughing.

"You gave him the pink one?! I was hoping you would!"

Izzy whipped around his head to my brother. "You were apart of this?! I should have known better then to trust you!"

"Oh relax, it will come out in a few days, and barely anyone will notice unless you tell them." I waved his anger away dismissively. "Besides, it's not like I caused you any physical harm or anything."

"No harm!?" Izzy snapped. "How about those balloons you set up that were filled with molasses?! That hurt!"

"Then maybe you'll think twice about being selfish." I huffed and rose from the table we were at before I headed out the door, Ivy on my shoulder and the egg in my arms. I could hear the others shouting after me as I made my way outside, but I refused to stop.

Izzy had been quite outlandish lately since just before our journey had started and it had really pissed me off. Who did he think he was in order to treat us all like that? He should have known there would have been some sort of resentment and what not heading his way. I knew Bell wouldn't do it, and Everett had to be in the right mood, but I could do it at any time.

I stopped in the middle of the plaza, just about ready to head out of town when I heard a loud voice booming over us.

"My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma." I looked over to the man wearing a colorful robe with bright green hair and some sort of metal piece over where one of his eyes should be. Many men and woman stood behind him in grey like uniforms that covered most of their bodies except for their faces. "Today, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about pokemon liberation."

Everyone that was gathered around this event was suddenly stunned and thrown for a loop. Whispers quickly were working their way through the crowds while I stood there in disbelief.

I knew that pokemon weren't always treated well. It was organizations like this that tried to make life better or worse for pokemon. However, this one seemed like they were trying to help. But to the point of liberation? Did this have to do with Rose Agustino? Could she possibly be in our region to cause a group like this to act out? I couldn't think of anything recently that would have caused for people to ask for liberation of all things…

"Piper!" I turned my head as the others caught up. Bell latched onto my arm. "What's going on?"

I shook my head and turned back to the man. "I don't know, but let's listen and find out."

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However… is that really the truth?" The man before us was pacing around while he made his case and many people and pokemon in the crowd were watching intently or whispering. "Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans… only assume that is the truth?"

More whispers caused people and pokemon alike to become concerned from those words. Izzy narrowed his eyes at the man.

"What is that fool thinking?" He spat. "Even I am not the greatest person-"

"Here, here!" I whispered and Izzy narrowed his eyes at before shaking his head.

"But I treat my pokemon well and not many pokemon abusers are in this region. What on earth could he be referencing to? Pokemon liberation would be the end of everything as we know it since we rely on them so much in our society. Most jobs would be over if pokemon didn't exist in our lives."

"Pokemon are subjected to the selfish commands of trainers… they get pushed around when they are our 'partners' at work…" Ghetsis looked around at everyone in the crowd who had gone silent. "Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"

Of course no one could. There was always going to be something bad inside us, for human or pokemon. We would always have goals, and sometimes our feelings and trying to achieve certain things would get in the way of that.

"Now ladies and gentlemen," the man continued. "Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called pokemon?"

People began to mutter once more before I could hear someone near the front speak the word "liberation." The man up before us smiled before he threw his arms into the air.

"That's right! We must liberate the pokmeon! Then, and only then, will humans and pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and pokemon… and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention."

In no time at all, the flags of their organization were picked up and the men took off, all of them guarding the spokes person. Once they were out of sight, many people who were watching the even began talking about the subject of liberation before they all dispersed. Only a few of us were left around the place.

"Liberating pokemon?" Izzy shook his head. "Like anyone would do that. Not only are pokemon loved too much, but their too integrated into our society. They wouldn't want to be pulled away from all of this."

"Izzy's right, but I can see the appeal, especially for pokemon who have been really hurt by bad people." Everett sighed. "People can be pretty cruel, but so can pokemon if given the right reasons."

"Sni!" Ivy slid herself down my arm to face me. "Sni snivy sni!"

"Thanks Ivy, you're the best pokemon too." I freed one of my hands in order to pat her head and hold her close while she snuggled into my chest with me and the egg.

"…What?" I jumped and turned on my heels to see a young man behind us, perhaps a little older then ourselves and about at the age of sixteen. His hair was long and green, pulled back in an elastic and the top of it hidden under a black hat. His clothes were mostly white. His pants were an off white grey color while his long sleeved shirt was white and buttoned up at the front. His shoes matched his hat in color.

"Who are you?" Everett stood before us away from the young man who continued to stair at me in shock.

"Can we help you with something?" Bell questioned from around Everett's arm.

"You're pokemon…" the young man muttered while he looked at me. "It…"

"Spit it out." Izzy narrowed his eyes at the young man. "You're being rude taking up so much of our time with your stuttering."

I smacked him upside the head. "And you're being rude just in general!"

"I can hear your pokemon…" the young man spoke. "I suppose you can't, most humans can't."

"I can hear her just fine," the man's eyes snapped up at me while I narrowed my eyes at him and Ivy hissed out protectively.

"Snivy sni!"

I grinned at her. "You tell him Ivy." I turned back to the guy and tilted my head. "Who are you? What exactly is it that you want?"

"My name is N," he responded. "I am also a trainer… but do pokemon really enjoy being in pokeballs?"

"His name is a letter?" Izzy snorted.

Bell hit his side. "Izzy, stop that! It's rude!"

"It's probably abbreviated for his name, you know how some people are a letter or two instead of their whole name," Everett noted.

"I can see where you're coming from," I admitted to the young man. "I don't want to steal the future or the freedom of any pokemon. I'm a trainer myself, but only because the pokemon wanted this kind of life. If they didn't, I wouldn't force them to be with me."

N looked at me for a long moment before he lowered the bill of his cap, hiding his eyes from me. "I've never met a person like you… the voice of your pokemon… its different then the ones I've heard all my life." He took a step closer. "I want to hear more of the voice of your pokemon. Battle me, girl."

"I have a name, its Piper Theron." I stepped out from around my friends. "And if you want me to battle you, I will."

"Good, help me then my friend!" Quickly from N's hand came a pokeball that had a new pokemon I hadn't encountered yet. It meowed when it came out of its pokeball and rubbed its purple furred head and body against N's leg before walking out before us. Its legs had grey fur over them on its shoulders as well as a spot on its back. Its green eyes watched us before focusing on Ivy who had jumped before me while I held my egg.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex and looked up the pokemon before me. _Purrlion, the devious pokemon. They steal from people for fun, but their victims can't help but forgive them. Their deceptively cute act is perfect. It attacks with sharp claws. Purrlion nests are somewhat common and are normally found on route two and three, as well as within the Dreamyard._

 _So it's a dark type pokemon… nothing that's an advantage or disadvantage to Ivy…_ I looked up from my device to see N frowning at me, or more likely the device in my hands. I could only guess he didn't like it since he thought we had to capture pokemon in order to record them into the pokedex.

"Start us off Ivy! Use vine whip!" My pokemon quickly lashed out with its vines that came from her hands and were swung hard at the opposing trainer's pokemon. It had little time to react before it was slammed into a hurled behind its trainer. N looked frozen in fear as he turned around and looked to see his pokemon in a partial crater.

"A single… hit…?" N look on helplessly as his pokemon was taken out in one go.

"Wow! That was incredible Piper!" Bell hurried over to me with a large grin on her face. "How did you do that?!"

"It could have been a number of things…" I turned away from her and looked at the still stunned N, who couldn't look away from his pokemon. "Look, sorry if I was too rough, I wanted to take you on seriously. I know you're for freeing pokemon and what not, but if that's the case, then you probably are against pokemon battles too right?"

N tore his eyes away from his pokemon to place a hard look in my direction. He didn't say anything, but the annoyance and anger in his eyes was easy to read.

"If you really want to fight for what you believe in, you have to be willing to give you all in battles like this. If you're not willing to let your pokemon get hurt, then there's no way for you to win. Unless your pokemon is incredibly strong, there's no way to avoid getting hurt. Pokemon accept that in their nature, they want to get stronger and are willing to put the hard work and pain to use to get there, no matter how long it takes." I shook my head and Ivy jumped up back on my shoulder. "Just keep that in mind for the future, for your pokemon's sake, because if you don't believe in them, then there's no hope for you."

This seemed to hit a cord with N. He narrowed his eyes at me before walking over to his pokemon and cradling it in his arms. He turned back to me and shook his head.

"As long as pokemon are confined to pokeballs… pokemon will never become perfect beings. I have to change the world for pokemon, because pokemon are my friends."

He left then, walking off with his pokemon in hand, most likely to get treated. We all watched him go until he was out of sight and I sighed.

"Man that was a heavy atmosphere…"

"I'll say." Everett laid his arm across the back of my shoulders. "You okay Sis?"

"I'm fine Ev. Just rattled a bit." I looked worriedly to where N had hurried off to. "I just hope that he figures things now. He's got a good idea in mind; he just isn't thinking clearly how to obtain it."

"Well regardless, shall we move on then?" Izzy stepped outside of our huddled little group and placed his hands in his pockets. "Staying in this town will prevent us from moving forward and allow Bell's father to catch up with us, something that I know we do not wish to happen."

Bell gasped. "You're right! We need to get going!"

Everett rubbed my arm for a moment before walking before the others. "Then let's go then, coming Piper?"

I smirked at them, the atmosphere changed as I our minds turned back to our journey. "Yeah, let's do this!"

I raced past all of them, sounds of protests reached my ears, but I ignored them and continued to move to the north. A large forest sat between all of us and our first gym battle that would truly show if we could handle being trainers, and do our best to make it to the top.

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Okay, so like I promised, here's the double chapter update! Sorry for the wait on it, got a bit busy in the morning, but I hope you like these chapters!**

 **Okay, that was the most absolute fun to write! I'm having an incredible time with the pranks, so I just hope I can keep them all different and original in their own sense! I hope you guys like it and how I torment poor Izzy!**

 **So we encounter our bad guys and N? Or are they? Here is where Piper begins her inner turmoil that she has to face to figure our who's side they're on!**

 **So like always everyone, please Send in Questions and Review! I love to hear your comments because they are the push I need to keep going when I get stuck! (And I prey I don't, but most likely will because I'm human…)**

 **Love you all and see you next week!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	3. First Test of Strength

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 3: First Test of Strength_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

After our encounter with the strange man N, my friends and I headed off in to the forest to the north. It was relatively a small route, but it could be for those who were new to the region or area. Of course, we knew the way already; we just were taking our time and training out here. Izzy thought it would be a good idea in order to prepare us for our first gym match in Striaton just north of us.

For once, I had to admit he was right about it, not that I would ever admit that to him.

We had traveled along the route for an hour or so before deciding to call grassy spot a prefect place to make up camp. We decided that we would train near that area for the rest of the day and night before making it to the city by the next day.

I was seated on a large rock at the time, just enough space for Bell and myself. Ivy sat herself on my shoulder while Bell held both of her pokemon in her arms. My brother had fallen asleep for a while, the bill of his cap pulled over his eyes to shield them from the setting sun. Izzy had not been with us at that moment. He had gone off to spend every waking moment training his two pokemon.

While Izzy had captured two extra pokemon on the routes for the pokemon catching contest when we first had left home, he sent both of those pokemon to assist the professor. While on this new route, Izzy had taken a liking to the pokemon that N had used when we saw him, Purrlion. He seemed to think that one he had found in the forest had been powerful, so he captured it and began to train with them for hours on end while we waited at the campsite.

"What's taking Izzy so long…?" Bell pouted as she looked around. "Why does he have to take so long…?"

"He's training hard for the first gym Bell," my brother replied a response to her, stirring from his nap. "He'll be here eventually. Just let him have time to get it out of his system and get to a point that he wants to be at."

"Still… its just boring waiting for him…" Bell sighed. "I wish he would get back sooner… I don't want to wait on him for dinner…"

"Don't worry, were not." I grinned at her before handing over some food Everett and my father had put up for us for the first couple days. "Eat up, and then to kill some time, let's do some training of our own."

"But we already did training…" Bell whined before something seemed to come to her and her look changed. "But we could battle each other!"

I blinked at her. "You want to battle me?"

"Why not?" Bell seemed to become excited at the idea. "I wanted to do it on the first day, but because we were running from my dad I thought it would be better to wait."

"Why not then?" I grinned and jumped to my feet. Ivy quickly jumped before me and I felt the adrenaline begin to pump in my body. "Come at me Bell!"

"Go Lilipup!" Bell's recently caught pokemon jumped out before my own. "Start off with tackle!"

The little normal type charged at my grass type. Ivy watched it come close before I threw my arm forward. "Jump Ivy! Use vine whip!"

"Sni!" My grass type's vines surged forward from her arms hurled back the little normal type. It cried out in shock before it landed on its feet and glared at us.

"That won't be enough to stop us!" Bell cried out. "Go and use bite!"

"Arf!" The pokemon darted forward, slightly limping on its leg after my last attack before its teeth landed in the tail of my grass type. Ivy in turned growled at the pain and threw the pokemon, thrusting it into the tree. The pokemon cried out at the hit and remained down when it fell face first into the earth below.

"Lilipup!" Bell darted to her pokemon and quickly checked it over. My brother hurried over to her and took the pokemon in his arms.

"Don't worry Bell, he's just knocked out." My brother pulled out some potions and berries. "I'll take care of him, you go ahead and finish your battle with Piper."

"Are you sure?" Bell gently reached out to her pokemon and touched his cheek. The pokemon flinched from the pain, but gave his trainer a smile.

"Ar…" The pokemon let a sound rumble out of its chest before Bell nodded to it.

"Okay." She stood up and walked back over to me. "Let's continue this battle Piper! Go Oshowatt!"

"Osha!" The pokemon leapt from where it was sitting and landed before Bell. It grinned as it watched its opponent, Ivy, and motioned for her to attack.

"Let's go Ivy, use wrap!" Ivy snapped forward and wrapped her body around the water type, squeezing the body with her bendable figure. The oshawatt flinched from the pain and tried to move and knock Ivy off. It didn't work as she held on for dear life.

"No! Oshowatt!" Bell gasped. "Use water gun!"

Oshowatt turned her head to Ivy and blasted her face with water in hopes of shaking Ivy off. It didn't work however, as Ivy grinned down at the pokemon and just squeezed harder.

"Alright Ivy, call it good before you choke them." My grass pokemon nodded and let up, loosening her hold before the water type fell to the ground. Bell pouted as she walked over and grabbed her pokemon.

"I guess I need to train harder…"

"Don't worry, for your first battle you did really good," Everett told her. "It just sucks because you would have had a better chance against Izzy or me, since he's a fire type and I got a flying, so if you knew ice type moves, that would have taken me out."

She smiled softly at him. "Thanks Ev…"

"No problem, now I'll avenge you!" He stood before me next while Ruff plopped himself into the battlefield while Bell took care of her pokemon. "Let's go Ruff! Use wing attack!"

"Ruff!" its wings turned white and it lunged forward, hovering on the wind, before slamming its wings into my pokemon, Ivy was hurled back before she planted her feet besides me, silently stating that she wasn't done.

"Ivy!" I cried out worriedly before narrowing my eyes at Ruff. "Use vine whip and grab that pokemon! The use wrap!"

"Sni!" She hurled her vines into the air and wrapped them around Ruff's ankle. He cried out in shock before the pokemon was yanked down to the ground. Ivy quickly leapt forward and wrapped her body around Ruff in order to prevent him from moving. Ruff cried out from being unable to move and struggled harshly against my grass pokemon's grip. When he couldn't escape it, he gave in and laid his head down.

"Nice Ivy!" My pokemon released Ruff and looked back at me, panting a bit. She seemed tired from behind hurled around by my brother's pokemon and the fighting between her and the other pokemon, however, she was still in good spirits.

"So it seems you two are getting tired now." I looked across our makeshift camp to see Izzy approaching us. His eyes looked mischievous for once, like he had the upper hand. "Perhaps you would face me as well? Unless… you feel you can't take myself and my pokemon?"

"Aren't you kinda preying on the exhausted here Iz?" Everett questioned him with a correcting tone.

I waved off my brother. "Its fine Ev, we'll battle him."

Ivy instantly straitened up and sucked in a breath before she seemed to prepare herself for the next battle. Izzy watched the two of us, apparently falling for his bait. He was thrilled, most likely since he assumed it would be an easy win with my pokemon weakened and at a disadvantage to one of his team members.

"Let's go then Purrlion!" The feline pokemon appeared from the pokeball Izzy threw and it didn't take long for it to stare up and down at my pokemon, growling in the process. "Use assist!"

I blinked at the odd attack while the feline pokemon jumped back before fire emerged from her paw and flew at my pokemon. Ivy quickly leapt out of the way, avoiding the attack without my command while Izzy merely huffed at us. I was pretty positive that he was hoping it'd be an easy win with my pokemon as tired as she had been.

"Damn it!" Izzy hissed while he saw Ivy's unburned body. "Scratch, Purrlion!"

"Mea!" The purple pokemon launched itself forward and hurled its body at Ivy. Ivy launched herself out of the way and slithered around the field as quickly as she could, barely avoiding the sharp claws that were approaching her.

"Ivy! Use wrap and prevent her from moving!" Ivy suddenly turned on her tiny heels and launched herself at the normal type.

"Assist!" I flinched at Izzy's quick move where the pokemon lunged forward and was coated in flames.

"Jump!" Ivy instantly let the pokemon go and jumped into the air over the pokemon. The purrlion skidded to a halt and growled at my grass type.

"Just hold still already!" Izzy snapped. "You're supposed to be tired!"

"Then you're assuming too much!" I huffed back. "Ivy! Use leaf tornado!"

"Sni!" Ivy screeched as her body twirled around to create a mini tornado before she hurled it at the dark type. It was instantly sucked up into the tornado of razor sharp leaves before being hurled into Izzy himself. He gagged as the wind was knocked out of him and he was thrown into the ground.

"Damn it!" Izzy raced to return his pokemon before yanking out another, his starter from what I could assume. "Go tepig! Use flame charge!"

His fire type quickly appeared from the pokeball and the tepig's body was coated in fire before racing at Ivy. The attack was so sudden; I didn't have time to shout an order to Ivy before she was hit with the fiery attack. She screeched as she was hurled back toward my feet.

"Ivy!" I went to run to her, but Ivy struggled to stand before me, not ready to give up just yet on the battle. Her eyes were narrowed at Izzy who was grinning thinking the battle was leaning in his favor. "Let's get him! Leaf tornado!"

"Sni!" Ivy hurled another tornado of leaves at her opponent, but this one was twice the size of the last.

"Lash back with ember Tepig!" Izzy's fire type nodded before blowing out fire from between its lips at the attack to attempt to stop it. The fire was only wrapped up into the tornado, even as it burned the leaves; it was still a tornado hurrying toward the enemy pokemon. He squealed in shock before Tepig was sucked up into the fiery winds, screaming from the inside. "Tepig!"

The pokemon burst from the flames and landed on the ground before Ivy. He was able to stand, albeit he was shaking. Tepig looked up to face Ivy while she narrowed her eyes at him, not looking pleased at all from the surprise attack. Tepig instantly froze and shrunk back.

I sighed. "Ivy, end this. Vine whip!"

"Sni!" The thick vine of her tail lashed out and grabbed the fire type and lifted him into the air. He flailed out, but to no avail was he able to escape. Ivy chucked his body down into the ground and he cried out before rolling before Izzy's feet. The pokemon gave out another breath before it collapsed, defeated.

"No! Get up Tepig!" Izzy leaned down to shake his pokemon. "We've got her really injured! We can take her!"

"Izzy…" Bell slowly walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think Tepig has had enough…"

"He can't battle anymore dude… just let him rest." Everett shook his head from where he stood and crossed his arms. "Piper's the winner today, okay?"

"No!" Izzy turned back with his eyes glowing in rage. "How am I supposed to get stronger if I can't beat her?!"

"Then I guess that means you need more training," I snickered. "And I do too, if I wanna stay on top."

"Damn it!" Izzy pounded the earth. "Why can't I beat you at anything?"

"Uh… Iz? Exactly who are you talking about?" my brother questioned him. "Piper may prank you a lot and be a stronger trainer, but have you noticed that you're the harder worker here? You've been studying material on battling, training, and raising pokemon since you wanted be a trainer nearly ten years ago."

"That's right!" Bell cheered. "Piper could never be as smart as you! You have more knowledge in your head from all your books while she has to learn from her mistakes. And you learn from her mistakes as well! Um…"

"Piper's not bad with directions, but she's not the best. You could find your way out of a crazy ass maze, which is good since we'll be dealing with those soon enough in other forests and ruins," Everett also noted.

Bell nodded heavily. "And you won the pokemon catching contest!"

I rolled my eyes at them. "Felling the love over here, you jerks."

"But Piper!" Bell pouted. "This is for Izzy!"

I snorted and Bell turned away from me. I whispered to Ivy. "And I got something for Izzy later…"

She snickered. "Sni…"

"Well… I have to say I enjoyed hearing those things," the words had instantly brought up Izzy's mood and he was grinning. "But mark my words Piper Theron, I will beat you!"

He whipped himself around to point a finger at me, the other on his glasses with a raging blaze in his eyes. It excited me to see that flame, since I knew I'd have a good rival out of Izzy. I always knew that…

"We'll see about that!" I chuckled at him. "You've got a ways to go before you'll beat me."

"Now that everything's said and done, how about dinner and healing up our pokemon?" Everett suggested while he was working on a stew for all of us with some ingredient he'd bought from town. "I figured a nice hot meal on this cool night would be pretty nice."

"Oh I love when you make stew!" Bell was over at his side in an instant. "I'd love some!"

"Thanks Ev!" I marched over to him and got a bowl myself and Ivy. "If you plan to cook the next time we're on the road, can we get chowder?"

My brother snickered at me. "No problem Sis."

Izzy was healing his pokemon at the moment to give them the energy they needed to eat. "I will take some for myself and my team as well Everett."

Soon enough, all of our pokemon were healed and we were eating happily in the dark around a fire. We easily enjoyed ourselves before we all fell to sleep in the dead of the night.

But not before I had my fun…

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

I woke up to the sound of a surprised yelp coming from the other side of camp. I sat up and rubbed my eyes before I saw Izzy covered in a thick layer of mud all over his body. I could hear the snickering that came from my brother and Bell as they saw what had happened as Izzy's body had sunk a bit into the mud pile Ivy and I placed him in the night before.

Thank Landorus that he was a heavy sleeper…

"PIPER!" Quicker then anything, Izzy was to his feet and glaring daggers at me. I snickered and grabbed up my items and pokemon, the egg sitting comfortably in my arms while Ivy attached herself to my shoulder, and I took off running toward the town. I didn't stop until I made it into the pokemon center and closed the door behind me.

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Well, it seems like the others have discovered who the strongest trainer among them is! And Izzy isn't pleased about it! But now we see who's the most eager to prove themselves, and Piper doesn't plan to drop from the top of the pack any time soon. But now we're starting to get somewhere into this world as we have arrived in Striaton! Its time for our first gym battle, and hopefully more pranks from Piper!**

 **Love you all and see you next week! Please Review and Send in Questions!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	4. Sights of Striaton

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 4: The Sights of Striaton_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

Once everyone had arrived in Striaton, we decided to take that day and observe the new city, the sights and train in the near by areas to prepare ourselves for our first gym. Perhaps we were being overly cautious when it came to that. I spent a lot of time training with Bell and Everett in order to help them and myself by going back down onto route two. Izzy on the other had needed a break from me after leaving him in the mud early on that morning, so he left for the Dreamyard that was to the west of town. It was a place we planned to check out on the following day in order to have a final check over our teams before facing the gym leaders of town.

The gym leaders here were a set of three brothers, Chili, Cilan, and Cress. The way the gym leaders worked was that each of them had their own different elemental type. Chili had fire types, Cilan had grass types, and Cress had water types. From what we had heard from around town, it was a one on one battle. The true test of this gym was to face off against the gym leader that had the type advantage over you. So that mean that Bell would face Cilan, Izzy would face Cress and I would face Chili. My brother would be the only odd one out have a pokemon that had the advantage over one, but was more on equal terms with the other two. I could only guess that perhaps it would be Cress that would battle my brother, possible in order to use water and maybe ice moves against Everett.

"What do you think of this Piper?" Bell twirled around for me as we had approached a store that sold clothes in this new city. After being out for a few days, Bell had decided it had been long enough and she wanted to get a new set of clothes that would work better in this environment for traveling. I mean, come on, there was only so long she could go around in a dress before she was going to get caught up in something or hurt. Its not good to go climbing in a fricken dress.

Bell now had on a set of mint green long pants and orange sneakers on her feet. Her shirt was white, long sleeved, with a thin orange vest jacket over it with a lighter hood. She looked absolutely cute in it, and it would work a thousand times better for her when she traveled. She finally had clothes that weren't dangerous for her to wear, she could run if needed.

"It looks awesome Bell!" I gave her two thumbs up. "And your hat matches so well."

"You think so?" Bell twirled around for me one more time before she shifted her hat on her head. "I've always liked it since my mother gave it to me… but I never figured that I'd be wearing such a nice hat on my pokemon journey…"

I grinned at her. "Then wear it for that reason alone! It's your choice Bell. Look how much we've changed since we came out here!"

Bell blushed before looking away. "You really think so?"

I winked at her. "I know so. Now let's go pay for these and send your old clothes to the professor and meet up with Ev. I'm sure he's really excited to get over to the Dreamyard. I know I am to prank Izzy."

I snickered as I thought of the many different ways I could get to him out there while Bell sighed from my evil enthusiasm. "It scares me how much you love to prank him… can't you leave our poor best friend alone for a single day?"

"But he'd get bored!" I whined back at her, pouting heavily. "Besides, pranking him keeps him on his toes! Didn't you see how fast and quick he was in the battle yesterday?"

"I did." Bell nodded her head. "But I'm just thinking about emotionally how you keep pushing him. How about we make a deal? If he doesn't make anyone extremely made or irritated and keeps himself in check, you don't prank him for the day."

"Awe…" I huffed. "But that takes all the fun out of it!"

Bell sighed. "And you're going to scare him to death before he can even get his first gym badge…"

I shook my head. "Fine! I'll cut back, but I'm not holding back the next time he pisses me off!"

Bell's face was stunned for a moment before a smile overcame her and she hugged my waist. "Oh Piper, thank you! I know that will help him breath easier!"

I turned my head away from her. "You're just lucky you're really cute and my best friend or I wouldn't have agreed."

Bell pulled back and lightly tugged on my hand. "I know."

Bell and I then walked to the counter and paid for her new clothing. We had managed to pull together some money between all of us to get Bell more prepared for the road so she wouldn't be as likely to hurt herself. She would pay us back in the future with favors or money, it didn't matter which or how long it took. It wasn't like it was a lot that we gave her, just enough to get a single new outfit that would be more effective on the road.

Once we were set with that, Bell's old clothes were sent to the professor and we hurried over to where we would meet my brother. He had bought some ingredient to make us sandwiches for lunch and was most likely looking into chowder ingredients for my request I'd given him the day before.

"Hey!" As soon as I saw my brother waving at us, Bell and I hurried over to see him as he had a large brown paper bag in his hands, our food for the day. He whistled, however, when his eyes caught sight of the new clothing that dawned on her. "Bell… wow…" My brother seemed overly impressed with the way she looked. "You're really ready to travel now!"

"You think so?" She twirled around for him to see her entire outfit. "You don't think it's too much?"

"Landorus no!" My brother shook her off. "I'm just glad we got you some better clothes so you don't get hurt or ruin that dress you had on. That would've just sucked!"

"Yeah… you're right!" Bell smiled before she hurried over and hugged my brother. "Thank you Everett!"

"N-no problem!" My brother normally was quite the cool guy, ran with the flow of things, never stuttered or showed too many emotions unless he was concerned for the family. This was new to see out of him. I was surprised at Bell's bold move, but even more so at my brother's light stuttering.

Oh I was so gonna drag that out of him later on…

"So now that you two got that settled, can we head up to the Dreamyard? I heard some awesome pokemon were in the area, even a light rumor about a shiny pokemon!" I grinned at them as they pulled apart. "That would be so cool to see!"

"Yeah!" Bell tugged on my brother's arm. "Let's go find Izzy, eat, and find some new pokemon before the gym!"

My brother could only grin at her while he was pulled along behind us. "I'm coming!"

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Whoa…" My eyes widened when we finally arrived at the entrance of the Dreamyard. From what information we were able to retrieve from the locals, this location used to be a research lab centered around the two pokemon munna and musharna would could power a entire region with the power from the psychic powers and their dreams. The building here was a huge lab that took over an acre or two of distance. It had been shut down for nearly a decade or two after and incident caused the building to explode. Only a few of the walls, small portions of the ceiling, and a chunk of its basement remained intact.

Many trainers tended to gather in this location for training and speaking to a woman who gave away pokemon to assist in their up coming gym battles. Apparently this woman was giving away pansear, pansage, and panpour. All of these pokemon looked nearly like each other, other then the fact that they were different colors and types, but they all contained the same tan fur and body shape.

"This is incredible!" Bell couldn't help but gasp as she looked around the abandoned area that was now overrun with pokemon. We all looked upon as nature had begun to take the building back, covering itself with vines and trees that over took the once proud standing building.

"It's about time you all got here." We all lifted our heads to see Izzy walking toward us. "I've secured us a spot to rest if you wish to have lunch now; otherwise, I plan to continue training with my new pokemon."

"New pokemon?" Bell questioned him.

"Yes, I've acquired a pansage to assist me with up coming battles, even if that may not include this gym." Izzy turned his head to look behind him. "Pansage, show yourself to the others."

Izzy's pokemon all soon appeared before all of us, but I noticed there was an odd one out that I hadn't seen before. Much like I had described, a tan monkey like pokemon with green growth on the top of its head as well as the lower half of it. I quickly pulled out my pokedex in order to learn more about this pokemon.

 _Pansage, the grass monkey pokemon. It shares the leaf on its head with weary-looking pokemon. These leaves are known to relieve stress. Its kind enough to share them with friends. Pansage nests are rare and tend to only be found in the Pinwheel Forest and Lostlorn Forest._

After looking over the information, I watched as the pokemon easily climbed up atop of Izzy's shoulder and bounced on him happily. The pokemon seemed to enjoy being in his care. Izzy didn't even reprimand the pokemon to move or leave him alone, which I was shocked over.

It was always one of the things I was worried about when Izzy decided he wanted to go on a pokemon journey. He always had such a terrible attitude toward others I was worried that would reflect toward his pokemon and they wouldn't be treated as well as they should. However, I guess I had been wrong at the time. Izzy showed incredible care for his pokemon. Perhaps that didn't make its way over to us as friends (more likely myself then anything) but as long as his pokemon were treated well, that was all that mattered.

"Oh I see you brought your friends over Isadore!" We all looked past Izzy to see a woman approaching us. "Hello! Are you all looking for new pokemon too?"

All of us looked between each other as the older woman approached. She seemed to be about the professor's age or a little older, dressed as a breeder or sorts. Hanging around her feet were two more pokemon that I could only assume were a pansear and panpour. The first of the two was red with a flame like styled fur on top of its head and a red lower half of its body. The other one was blue on color and the top of its head looked almost like a fountain of water shooting upwards. I pointed my pokedex at the two of them for more information.

 _Pansear, the high temp pokemon. When it si angered, the temperature of its head tuft reaches six hundred degrees. It uses its tuft to roast berries. It likes to help people. Pansear nests are somewhat rare and can only be found in the Pinwheel Forest and Lostlorn Forest._

 _Panpour, the spray pokemon. The water stored inside the tuft on its head is full of nutrients. Plants that receive its water grow large. It does not thrive in dry environments. It keeps itself damp by shooting water stored in its head tuft from its tail. Panpour nests are somewhat rare and only appear in the Pinwheel Forest and Lostlorn Forest._

"It seems the locations haven't been quite updated yet," the woman replied with the other pokemon. "I run a bit of a breeding home on the edge of town where I raise these pokemon for trainers. I bring three a day and give them out to trainers who are looking for new, rare pokemon."

"So she's the one who gave you the pokemon Izzy?" Bell questioned him.

"Yes, Pansage is now a new member of my team." Izzy then turned his gaze over to me. "And hopefully he'll be able to assist me with escaping you."

I feigned hurt. "Oh Izzy, how you wound me…"

"Alright you two, enough with your lover's spat." My brother rolled his eyes at us. "I thought we came here for some last minute training?"

"I would _never_ have a lover's spat with her!" Izzy huffed as he threw an accusing finger in my direction.

I chuckled, showing him a sly grin. "I suppose that means I need to return our wedding china?"

"Wh-!" Izzy's eyes were wide and his face flushed before I saw his entire body shaking in rage. "That's it!"

I laughed as I jumped away from him and Izzy trailed after me with his hands in the air, as if trying to intimidate claws. I couldn't stop laughing at him before I jumped up into a tree and sat out of his reach while he screeched below me.

I was going to choke on laughter at that point…

 **Everett's Point of View:**

While my sister annoyed the living hell out of Iz, I stood to the side with Bell and the woman who bred these pokemon. Bell was looking them over carefully, probably noting how cute they were, and they were in their own way. As we looked them over, both of them seemed to have polar opposite personalities. One was incredibly shy and hid behind the breeder while the other was jumping around in the area. I noticed that it was the fire type that seemed to come closer to Bell and I.

"Aren't you so cute?" Bell kneeled down in order to come closer and see the young pokemon who seemed to dance around her feet. The fire type quickly grabbed onto her arm and snuggled into her shoulder before looking back at the breeder, almost pleading.

The woman only smiled down at the pokemon. "If this trainer is willing to take you, you're more then welcome to go Pansear."

"Really?" Bell lifted her head up to look at the woman. "Can he?"

"Of course, that's why I brining them here in the first place." The woman rubbed the little water type's head that was cowering behind her. "Its not quite time for Panpour yet, but soon I bet. But if you're ready to go Pansear, then enjoy the world sweetheart."

"Yay!" Bell cheered as she pulled back to show me. "Ev! I got another pokemon!"

"He looks awesome Bell!" I patted her shoulder happily. "Wanna go take a walk and train a bit while those two are at it?"

Bell and I took a moment to look over were my sister was taunting Izzy from above in a tree. She held onto her egg with one arm while she held the tree with the rest of her form. Ivy was wrapped around her carefully, helping keep Piper in place while Izzy looked nearly ready to blow.

Bell giggled at the sight of them. "Yeah, let's go this way!"

I helped Bell to her feet. As soon as she was standing, her new pokemon jumped to her shoulder to hang there. Pansear grinned at his new trainer and danced around on her before the fire type noticed the other members of Bell's team. He jumped down then to play with them while Bell and I continued to move away from the bickering pair of my sister and Izzy.

"Oh! This looks like a great spot to eat! I think this is where Izzy was trying to lead us to before he got caught up with Piper." Bell pointed over to a flat spot that seemed to have once been a solid floor, but a tree was growing up right through the cracks. It was a nice shady spot today that would work well for our meal. It was one of those warmer fall days before it got cold, so we were going to take advantage of it before the snow came and made things more difficult.

"I can't believe I have three pokemon already!" Bell grinned as she sat down on a spot that seemed nice enough. I sat down across from her and began pulling out our food while our pokemon played within sight.

I chuckled at her. "And you chose all cute ones. They'll be a big help when it comes time to face some more serious battles. You want a variety on your team anyway. But it's still cool if you focus in only one type."

Bell blinked over to me while I handed her a sandwich. "Does it bother you that you don't have any other pokemon yet Everett?"

I shrugged. "Not really, its been me and Ruff for the longest time, so its not going to bother us to wait a bit more while trying to find the right team members to join us later on." Ruff jumped up to my shoulder and I petted the top of his head. "We'll find them in time, no different then Piper."

"I see…" Bell mumbled as she bit into her sandwich. Her eyes instantly lit up. "Oh this is so good! I love your cooking!"

"I just know what to use to make my audience happy." I chuckled at her. "Hey, at least if I can't make it big as a trainer, I could become a chef or something."

"I think that would be really cool!" Bell grinned at me. "I would buy from you every day!"

"Really?" I raised an eye brow at her, careful to try and hide the heat that was building in my face. "I didn't think you liked my food that much…"

"But it's really good!" Bell took another needy bite of her sandwich and chew for the longest time before she swallowed, basking in the scents and tastes. "I bet Piper and Izzy would agree too!"

I snickered lightly, shaking my head. "Whatever you say Bell…"

"I'm serious!" I raised an eye brown to her pouting face, which I totally couldn't take seriously with food on the corner of her mouth.

I laughed and grabbed a napkin before dabbing the spot on her face. "You got something there."

"Everett!" I laughed at her while she sulked at me. She snatched the napkin out of my hands and used it to clean up around her face. Bell threw it back at me once she was done, but that didn't cause me to stop laughing.

"Osha!" Bell and I both looked away from what was going on to check on the pokemon. Bell's pokemon were only a short distance away, but they were staring intently at something.

"What is it you guys?" Bell stood up from her spot and looked to where they were pointing at. Her eyes widened. "Oh Everett you have to see this!"

"What is it?" I stood from my spot and moved over to where Bell was. It seemed like she was reaching for something before I got there and my eyes widened when I saw that there was a pokemon looking at her fearfully. It was a munna, a pokemon common only in this area as far as I could tell, but the colors were off. Normally it'd be a small four legged pokemon with pink colors and little flower designs on its back, but this one was more green in color. A light yellow-green for its body with dark green flowers on its back, but a spot on its nose and the middle of the green flowers were a rich pink color.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex to learn more about it. _Munna, the dream eater pokemon. Munna always float in the air. People whose dreams are eaten by them forget what the dreams had been about. When it eats a pleasant dream, it expels a pink-colored mist. Munna nests are somewhat rare and can only be found in the Dreamyard. Please wait… updating shiny information…_

"Oh it's so cute!" Bell nearly squealed at the pokemon. "Are you hungry little one? Want some of our food? Everett here is the best cook ever!"

"Oh come on Bell," I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "I'm not that great."

"Yes you are!" Bell looked back at me for a moment before turning her attention back to the fearful pokemon. "Come on, we have lots of food to share!"

The little pokemon was hovering just barely off the ground and more seemed to be hiding behind some leaves, I could only assume so it could blend in with the area and hide. However, with it being fall, there was no way for this pokemon to hide with all the leaves becoming yellow, orange, and red in color.

 _It seemed quite fearful of us though. Had we hurt it? Or was it hurt from something else?_

I narrowed my eyes as I focused in on the body. I could see some small cuts and scraps on the pokemon's body. I kneeled down to look at it better and its eyes widened.

"Its hurt Bell, why don't you see if you can convince the poor thing to come out and I'll get my first aid kit."

Bell nodded quickly to me. "Of course!" She turned back to the pokemon and held out her hand. "Come on… we won't hurt you. Can we make you feel better? Where does it hurt?"

While the pokemon and Bell stared down at each other, I hurried off to grab my kit. It seemed that in the mean that that Bell and I were talking and then working with the pokemon that Izzy and Piper had finally stopped teasing each other long enough to eat the food we had left out for them and their teams.

"Hey Ev!" Piper grinned up at me. "Thanks for the sandwich! I see you were able to get your hands on those sour pickles again! I love them!"

"Thanks Sis." I walked around her and grabbed the kit I had in my bad and Izzy took notice of it.

"Has someone been hurt?" Izzy raised an eye brow at me.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Yeah… this shiny pokemon appeared and Bell's trying to get it to come out and eat with us. It seems like its hurt."

Piper gave a worried look. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

I shook my head. "I think too many people or pokemon may scare it. Bell's working on it right now and I'll take care of the wounds. We'll be back soon enough. Watch our food for us?"

Izzy nodded his head. "Of course."

The curious pair watched as I moved from our spot only to stop as I saw Bell step around the tree we were by. She held the pokemon in her arms that seemed to cower in fear.

"I was able to get it to come out… but I don't know what to do now…" Her lower lip trembled. "What do I do Everett?"

"I'll take care of the wounds. You just keep the poor thing calm." I pulled out my stuff and organized the items I needed at her feet. Bell slowly lowered herself to the ground and held the pokemon tightly to give it some comfort. She whispered soft and sweet words to it, calming it down while I cared for its wounds. As they were cared for, the pokemon finally began to calm down, but its fearful nature just wouldn't seem to let up.

 **Piper's Point of View:**

Once I watched my brother finish with the wounds on the poor pokemon before we finally thought it was time for us to head back into town. The little pokemon that Bell had found refused to leave her side. She was fearful of other people, and I couldn't blame her for that if some rude trainers roughly had tried to capture her.

The little munna, Bell had take special interest in her. The pokemon wouldn't leave her side for even a moment and Bell was doing the same thing. Bell had captured it and her new pansear earlier to make sure no others could capture them. Once Munna was Bell's, my best friend made sure that the little pokemon felt loved and cared for. During our lunch, she was wrapped in Bell's jacket to keep her warm. While the pokemon was still struggling to get comfortable with others, such as ourselves, apparently she felt relatively fine in the presence of Bell and my brother.

We arrived back in town about an hour later, once things had settled and appeared before the gym, ready to fight. It took us forever to decide on a battling order, but finally it was decided that I would go first. Izzy I'm sure had planned to watch my battle in order to find ways to beat me in the future.

We arrived at the gym to see that it was actually a restaurant. I'd heard about this before, where the front of the gym was also a business. The three gym leaders would cater to customers in between battles, and trainers often were the spot light in the middle of the excitement.

"Good afternoon! Welcome to Striaton's Gym and Restaurant!" a waitress appeared before us at the entrance to the building. "May I interest you all in a table? May assume that you're trainers here to face our gym leaders?"

"We're trainers yes, and we are looking for a gym battle." I grinned at her before showing her the pokemon I planned to use, Ivy, who sat on my shoulder. "I'll be using my grass type here and I plan to go first if I can."

"Of course, I'll alert our gym leaders and let them know that possibly all of them will be battling today and prepare our fire user, Chili, to battle you." The waitress bowed her head. "Please follow me."

The woman quickly led us inside and soon we were met with the large building before us. A large stage was the center of the room while set in romantic lighting of a more antique looking building. The stage itself was surrounded by a field to protect the other customers that seemed to be from a munna that belonged to the gym.

We sat at our table that the waitress gave to us and the others and I looked over the menu to decide what would sound good for dinner. We had faced off against a few trainers in the Dreamyard in order to win some money that we were using to pay for dinner.

"Good evening," we lifted our heads to look at a waiter who had rich blue hair that cascaded over one of his eyes and seemed to have a cool sort of attitude. "My name is Cress and I'll be serving you this fine night. May I interest you in some refreshments while you wait for you gym matches?"

"Yes please!" Bell told him quickly. "Could I have a mago berry lemonade for myself and my entire team? I would need five of those please!"

"I will have a hondew berry soda for myself and my team," Izzy told him. "I will need three in total."

"Oh! I'll have grepa berry soda for me and Ruff!" my brother quickly noted.

I grinned up at the waiter. "And I'll have an iapapa berry soda for me and my partner Ivy. Oh, you wouldn't also have a set up for my egg here?"

He bowed his head. "Of course, I'll get those right out for you and prepare my brother for you match. May I ask for your name so he knows who he's facing?"

The excitement of my first gym match was pumping threw me while I bounced in my seat. "Piper Theron."

"Thank you Miss Theron. I will be back momentarily." Cress left us in that moment to go and make up our drinks and I turned back to look at my friends.

"This place is really cool!" I grinned as I looked over the menu. "Oh nice… they have ribs!"

"That sounds really good!" Bell looked over her own menu showing it to her pokemon. "Do any of you guys want something yummy? Look! They have fruit salad. Oh! And they have some yummy looking pasta."

"All of this looks so good…" my brother was drooling from his spot. "Its gonna be nice to not have to cook tonight!"

Izzy sighed. "At least I don't have to worry about anything taking place while inside here…"

Bell sighed at him. "Oh Izzy…"

I snickered, my mood not shifting at all due to his attitude. "Whatever you say, I'll make up for it another time if you piss me off."

"That apparently isn't hard to do…" he muttered.

"Alright!" We all turned to the stage. A young man who seemed of similar shape to Cress was up there with fiery red hair curled like a flame. "Hey everyone! Its Chili Potter here to start off our night!"

The other trainers and people here for food clapped as the red haired waiter took the stage before everyone. He had a microphone in his hands that he used to deliver information throughout the building. He seemed to enjoy the spot light while I couldn't see either of his other brothers in that moment.

"So to start things off, we have four trainers here tonight that are looking for their first gym badge from myself and my brothers, so you'll be seeing all of us battle tonight!" He paused to let the crowd cheer. "I'm up first and my opponent is Miss Piper Theron! Come on up!"

I grinned and stood up from my table before approaching the stage. I left my egg in the care of my brother while I stepped onto the stage. Once I was in the spot light, it made it difficult to see past the stage, but I knew that dozens of people were just beyond the darkness. I stood before Chili with Ivy slithering down to the ground before me.

"So you're my opponent eh? This is gonna be fun!" Chili grinned as he saw me prepare to battle. "You look like you're going to be a challenge."

"Well, you're not my first fire type user for me to beat, so I hope I am." I clenched my fists as the adrenaline began to pump heavily throughout my body. "Let's go Ivy! Let's get our first gym badge!"

"Sni!" Ivy waited patiently for her opponent to appear, but was gradually becoming impatient.

"Alright, then let's get started!" Chili shouted. "Help me out Pansear!"

My eyes narrowed at the recollection. _He had the same pokemon that were gifted to us?_ I watched as the same fire type appeared before us that we had seen earlier in the day, the same pokemon that Bell had. I watched the fire type dance around the stage before locking onto my pokemon to face.

"First move to the challenger." Chili gestured toward me and I chuckled.

"You really don't want that, but if you insist!" I turned to Ivy. "Leaf tornado!"

"Sni!" Ivy created another tornado filled with razor sharp leaves and hurled it at her opponent.

"Pansear, incinerate!" Chili's command didn't catch me off guard as the tornado quickly sucked in the fire that was hurled from the body of Pansear. Chili quickly noticed that the tornado didn't stop, even if fire was added to it and he dove to the side, his pokemon following as the tornado hit the barrier that protected everyone else around us.

Chili quickly got back to his feet with his pokemon following suit. I snickered at him while Ivy twirled her tail in anticipation. He watched us carefully, before sighing.

"Yikes, we'll have to be careful with this one Pansear…" Chili shook his head before sending out his next order. "Fury swipes!"

"Pan!" The pokemon dug its paws into its side of the field and hurled itself over to Ivy. She barely had a moment to think before glowing claws were out and ready to strike.

"Ivy! Wrap!"

"Sni!" Ivy raced to wrap her body around the fire type and she managed to do so, keeping its claws away from her body. She squeezed the pokemon tightly and it cried out in pain.

"Pansear!" Chili cursed. "Use incinerate!"

The fire pokemon attempted to use its fire type move, but Ivy's grip only tightened as he tired. Fire leaked from between its lips, but none of it escaped from the clamp on Pansears lungs.

"Damn it!" Chili flinched as he saw his pokemon being strangled. "Pansear, use lick!"

 _Well that caught us off guard…_

As soon as Ivy was licked on the side of her face, she cried out in shock before releasing the fire type from her hold. The pokemon nearly fell away as it tired to get back its breath.

"Pansear! Are you alright?" The pokemon weakly nodded to its trainer as it stood up on wobbly feet.

"Ivy!" My pokemon wiped off its face and shivered from the feeling of the lick. "You okay?"

"Sni…" Ivy hissed out while she looked at her opponent.

I narrowed my eyes at them. "Don't you worry girl, we're gonna get him for that…"

"Incinerate!" The fire type wasted no time carrying out the order and trying to burn us on the field. Ivy shied back from the fire, but didn't falter too much. "Charge at her Pansear!"

The little fire type came racing forward with flames covering his entire body from the breath. Ivy was quick to dodge away from the flames, but the little pokemon just kept coming.

"Ivy! Leaf tornado!" My grass type quickly made another tornado to hurl at the fire type and push it back. However, before it left her hands, the fire type had grabbed her and both of the little pokemon were sucked in. "Ivy!"

Both pokemon were hurled from the attack we flames and soot covering them both. Ivy landed just before my feet with many burns on her body. She flinched from the pain and slowly came back to her feet. She was angry.

The fire type on the other hand seemed to have a bit of an easier time getting to its feet. It still carried the pervious wounds on its body from the attacks, but there was also less of an advantage on our part. Regardless of how strong Ivy and I were, if the types weren't favorable, she would have trouble in the battle.

But that wouldn't make us lose the battle. We were too strong for that. We wouldn't let it happen, and would fight to the very last breath, because we were too stubborn like that. If we couldn't beat the gym leaders… then there was no way in hell the rest of the others could.

A blinding light sudden appeared in the middle of our battle, jarring me from my thoughts. I focused in on it, trying to see if it was coming from the enemy, but it wasn't. It was Ivy…

"Ivy?" My eyes widened as her entire body had been engulfed in a white light and she quickly grew in size. She grew another foot or so, making her just big enough to stand below my one hip. She seemed to become longer in her body, reminding me a bit of an ekans. More leaves seemed to spring out of her spin and it was then that the light shattered around her and her new form revealed.

"Ser!" Ivy hissed out, dragging on in the syllables. I noticed her tone became a bit deeper, but still held the girly tone to it. The color of her body seemed to have stayed the same other then her growth in size and length; however, I did notice that her arms seemed to become almost nonexistent, being that of little leaves against her sides now.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex to find out what she was. _Servine, the grass snake pokemon and the evolved form of snivy. It moves along the ground as if sliding. They avoid attacks by sinking into the shadows of think foliage. They retaliate with masterful whipping techniques. When it gets dirty, its leaves can't be used in photosynthesis, so it always keeps itself clean. There are no known servine nests in this region._

I grinned as soon as I pulled away the pokedex from before me and Chili gulped nervously with his pokemon as soon as looked at them.

"Ivy, I think its time to finish this up." My pokemon looked back to me with a grin before we focused on the last leg of our battle. "Finish this with vine whip!"

"Ser!" Ivy leapt into the air before moving about on the stage with the muscles in her body and slithering like an ekans. She got in close to the fire type pokemon before more vines extended from her talk and she flipped over and slammed the pokemon down into the stage. A straggled cry was heard and the whiplash affected even that of the pokemon holding up the field. The shield shattered at the same time the stage did and everyone cried out in surprise.

The dust quickly settled before Chili looked for his pokemon among the rubble. He was quickly able to find his partner under the crushed stage while Ivy stood just a few feet from where her attack hand landed, now back to her feet. Chili sighed when he saw his pokemon, and soon after I saw why. His pokemon had been knocked out and was in the arms of its trainer.

"Looks like you're the winner Miss Theron." I grinned and cheered while I heard the others clapping behind me in the crowds. Chili stood up with his partner before reaching into his pocket and pulling out something. "Here, you more then earned this."

The badge he placed into my hands had been golden in color with three different colored diamond shapes in the middle of it, each representing the colors of the brothers, red, blue and green. Two more diamond shapes were beyond the three colored ones made of the gold colored metal. It was beyond beautiful, and probably the most expensive thing I owned at the time…

"Its called the trio badge, and now that you have it, you can battle the next gym leader. I'll give Lenora a call at the end of the night and tell her you and however many of your friends passed that you'll be heading her way for the next one." Chili held out his hand for me to shake. I did. "Good luck to you, and hopefully you trash their gym too."

"Sorry about that…" I laughed nervously as I looked at the wake of destruction before me.

Chili shook his head. "Nah, trainers are like this from time to time. We kinda expect it at this point." Chili shrugged his shoulders with a silly grin. "We are gym leaders after all."

"Well, thanks anyway then, for the battle and the gym badge." I stepped back from him. "Now I'm gonna go enjoy my meal while my friends battle you and your brothers."

He grinned back at me. "Sounds like fun. If your friends are any good as you, we'll have a pretty exciting night ahead of us."

I chuckled. "You don't know the half of it."

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Alright! We're to the end of another chapter and finally we're moving on to another section, or sort of. Gotta deal with something first before the others can move on. I'm sure that a lot of you noticed that Team Plasma wasn't in the chapter, so I gotta work on that in the next!**

 **Hope you all enjoyed the craziness of it! Gotta love the relationship between Piper and Izzy! And Bell and Everett are pretty sweet too, but that's just me. Please don't forget to Review and Send in Questions! Love you all and see you next week!**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the last two chapters as well. I don't really know if anyone did since I didn't receive any reviews for the last two chapters. Please don't be shy people! I want to hear every word about what you guys think, even if its constructive criticism! Please, please, please Review!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	5. 5 Confusion

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 5: Confusion?_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

"AHH!"

The screaming made me jolt up from my bed in an instant. I whipped my head around to see what was going on only to see that Bell was missing from her bed. I quickly leapt to my feet and threw on a pair of shoes and grabbing my room key. Once they were in hand, Ivy handed me my egg before the two of us flew out of our door.

"YOU MONSTERS! MUNNA! GIVE HER BACK! GIVE ME BACK MY POKѐMON YOU MONSTERS!"

Bells' screams could be heard, but they were getting further away. I dared to look around, the destroyed lobby below where our rooms were and fearful Nurse Joy standing in the wake of it before two broken doors.

"What the hell is going on?" Everett and Izzy both appeared from their doors with the pokemon by their feet as they checked the surroundings for themselves.

"That friend of yours had her pokemon stolen!" Nurse Joy shouted up to us. "She ran after the thieves!"

"Shit!" I leapt over the railing and landed on my feet with Ivy next to me. "Let's go!"

I could still hear Bell's screaming as I raced after her, knowing fully well that the boys were right behind me.

"DON'T HURT HER! SHE HASN'T DONE ANYTHIGN BAD! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Something had happened. I knew Bell had a shiny pokemon. I never knew it would make them a target for anyone. I cursed as I pushed my legs faster and Ivy slithered at my side to keep up with me, her muscles working harder then anything she had done before.

"MUNNA!"

The screams carried all the way over to where I knew the Dreamyard was. I still couldn't see Bell, only her exploud like screams kept me going in the right direction as she was on their tail.

All I could do was follow them after that. I hurried to try and stop them from getting away with my best friend and perhaps _all_ of her pokemon…

 **Isabella's Point of View:**

"MUNNA!" My throat had felt so dry… it had been really scratchy. I'd yelled so much, hoping my friends would hear to come and help me get back my pokemon.

She was so scared… Munna that is. This was the reason why she was so afraid. It was these people that made her so scared when I had found her the day before. My pokemon and I had only been able to help her so much before these men attacked us in the middle of the night.

My team and I had roused to get a drink of water and a late night snack. I wasn't sure why I was hungry, but then others were too, I couldn't help but indulge a little bit after winning my gym badge. I'd gotten some sweet treats for all of us when those men showed up. Team Plasma I think they were called?

I was so confused for the first two seconds before I started to scream, to get any of my friends to help me while I kept on their tail. I needed help. I knew Piper, Everett and Izzy would help me, but they were all fast asleep. The only way to get their attention was screaming.

I ran… I ran so far and as fast as I could… I wasn't a runner. But I couldn't leave her. Munna was so scared…

"MUNNA!" And then a thought hit me. "TELEPORT BACK TO ME! PLEASE! THE OTHERS ARE COMING! JUST TELEPORT BACK TO ME!"

I wasn't sure if she could do it at the time. She was so petrified… so was I as I followed after them, my other three pokemon hurrying after me. All of them kept up well, but it was Oshawott… sorry… Dewott, who was able to keep up with them better. Both Dewott and Herdier were much faster now that the two of them had evolved. It had happened the day before. Dewott had evolved in my gym battle while Herdier had evolved just earlier in the night from some training I was doing with Everett.

Dewott looked so different now. Her body had taken on a more blue tone to it, entirely, with dark blue tougher skin growing on her legs to hold two identical shells that she can throw at opponents. Whiskers had grown out of the side of her face and she doubled in size coming up to my hip.

Herdier on the other hand had gotten a bigger as well. Her body was a little longer now and hair framed her face. Her coat now had black to it, almost looking like a cape that went from her shoulders to her tail. But her paws were still tan.

 _Dewott, the discipline pokemon and the evolved form of Oshawott. Scalchop techniques differ from one dewott to another. It never neglects maintaining its scalchops. Strick training is how it learns its flowing double-scalchop technique. There are no known dewott nests in this region._

 _Herdier, the loyal dog pokemon and the evolved form of lilipup. It has black, cape like fur that is very hard and decreases the amount of damage it receives. It loyally follows its trainers orders. For ages, they have helped trainers raise pokemon. This pokemon is somewhat common and can be found on route one and route ten._

Those two kept a decent pace ahead of me while we ran. Pansear was the one to stay by my side and make sure we didn't lose them. He was so nervous… he had no idea that this was what this world was going to be like when he left his home. Neither did I. Maybe that had been what my father had been so worried for in the past when I had asked him about being a trainer when I was little.

I was also confused about this group of people. Team Plasma had been the ones to take my pokemon, so why was it that they were preaching to liberate pokemon? Was it a front? Were there two different sides of the group? Were these just stray people who liked to hurt pokemon and joined this team in order to cover their tracks?

"TELEPORT TO ME MUNNA!" I tried once more and this time I felt a weight in my arms and came to a stop. I dared to look down and my shiny munna was there, crying her eyes out. "Munna!" I turned my head to where my pokemon were. "Dewott! Herdier! I have her!"

I fell to the ground as I sobbed. I held her so close to me I wouldn't have known if I was chocking her. I had been so afraid at the time that I was going to lose one of my close friends and had been able to do nothing. But I was. Munna was back in my arms…

But that didn't mean we were safe yet.

I yelped as I felt a swift kick to my face.

"Give us back that pokemon you bitch!" I felt hands trying to probe me and take back what they had stolen. I kept my hold on Munna tighter and my pokemon lashed back. Yelling and screaming was going on around me and I could do nothing more then cry and hold my pokemon, protecting her.

"BELL!" I dared to peak out just as Piper showed up with the most furious look on her face. Ivy was right at her side. I could hear Piper growling as she came closer. "You damn bastards!"

And suddenly the men were off of me. I dared to look up from my fetal position and see that Ivy had been the one to hurl the members of Team Plasma into the trees. I watched their bodies crumble from the force before the two of them ran off deeper into the woods.

"That's right you fuckers, run!" Piper snarled. "You come back and I swear I'll be liberating you a hell of a lot more then just of your pokemon, you bastards!"

"Sis, enough!" Piper whipped her head back to her brother as both him and Izzy had made it to me. Everett helped me to sit up with his arm bracing me while I held a trembling munna in my arms. "Bell, are you okay? What happened?"

"T-they took Munna!" I held the pokemon close while she shook from the fear. "I-I got her back… but I don't know what they wanted her for…"

"It had to be them that hurt her before." Piper noted as she watched us. "Remember how fearful she was yesterday when you found her? I bet those assholes did it."

"It sounds like that would be the most logical answer," Izzy muttered. He tore his eyes away from the pokemon to look at my face. "Bell, your cheek is swelling. We should get some ice on it before it turns purple."

"I got an ice pack, hang on." Everett reached into his bag before pulling out a man made ice pack that became cold upon being worked with. Everett crushed it between his fingers before he placed it against my cheek. "That should help."

"Thanks Everett… everyone…" I looked down at Munna in my lap as tears escaped my eyes. "I was so afraid she'd be taken…"

"With the way you were screaming? The police will probably be here in a bit and question us on what happened." Everett chuckled and he patted my shoulder. "You practically woke up the entire town."

"Why don't we go ahead and start heading back?" Izzy suggested. "We shouldn't force anyone else to go on a search now that we're all safe here."

"Sounds good to me, I could use some more sleep now that this is over." Piper snickered as she stretched off the ground, having Ivy hold her egg. "Besides, I need all the energy I can get since we're heading out on another route tomorrow."

The others hurried to their feet with Everett leading back down to help me up. With one arm still holding Munna, he took the other and yanked me to my feet. Once I was standing (and a startled yelp on my part) he held the ice pack to my face again to continue to keep down the swelling.

It wasn't very fun to be kicked in the face you know…

"Hey you kids!" We all lifted our heads to see a police officer heading in our way.

"We're okay officer," Piper waved to him. "Nothing to worry about any-"

She was cut off then. Piper instantly went rigged when she looked up into the officer's eyes. I couldn't understand what was going on at the time, but there was a tension in the air. Wasn't the officer supposed to be the good guy?

Before I knew it, the officer had grabbed Piper and yanked her back, slapping a set of cuffs on her.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Everett was in there next before he saw the man's face and he backed up instantly. "Shit… of course _you_ had to be on duty tonight in this area."

"Everett, what's going on?" Izzy asked while keeping me back, an arm protectively before me while Everett stood between us and the police man.

"Guys, just take our pokemon and get out of here. Head back to the pokemon center and stay together." Everett looked back at us nervously. "Just go, we'll be okay."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I screamed at him, suddenly scared all over again.

"Bell-" Everett was cut off when he was yanked back and cuffed as well. The officer held both of the siblings in his arms and led them away.

"We'll be okay!" Piper shouted. "Just go- ow! Damn you! Don't yank so hard you fucken bastard!"

And in moments after, we were left alone. What on earth had just taken place in that moment? What did that police officer want with Piper and Everett? I knew the two of them liked to prank people, but never anything to be _arrested_ for…

"Let's go Bell…" Izzy cautiously turned to with worried eyes. "As much as I wish we could follow them, they gave their orders. Let's head back and in the morning we'll go try to talk to that officer and let them out."

"But Izzy…"

"Bell… I'm worried too, and I have no idea why they just allowed that man to take them, but we must believe in them and try to help in the morning. I doubt anyone will listen to us at this Landorus-awful hour. "

"Okay…" I cautiously grabbed onto Izzy's sleeve and allowed him to lead me back into town, questions swimming through my head in the wake.

 _Piper… Everett… please be okay…_

 **Violet's Point of View:**

I watched the children as they left back for the pokemon center. I kept my eye on the two that weren't bound and led all pokemon back into town before I cut off from them and headed toward the police station. We had recently gotten to the region at the time and were quickly split up in order to cover more ground to find Rose or any sort of trouble, and boy did we find some that night.

Upon arriving at the station, my boyfriend instantly looked at me with a raised eye brow. I knew he saw the two kids get dragged in here by that lone officer. I watched him process the paperwork while the children sat in a cell and glared at him, but shockingly didn't put up a fight.

I had been watching these four children for a short while. I had noticed early on that the girl, Piper Theron, had a knack for pranking and battling. She was still in the early stages, but her power level reminded me much of ourselves in the past. All of her friends and family seemed to carry a similar power, but it was still so young… it would need a good amount of time to be nurtured and developed into their own ways.

I gave Alex a kiss to his lips before drawing back to approach the officer. He flinched when he saw me and lowered his head, avoiding eye contact.

"Miss Vilmos, Mr. Oak, how may the Striaton Police help you?"

"You're in luck Officer, what I want and need actually are the same thing for once." I narrowed my eyes at him before crossing my arms. "I'll be taking those two children into my own custody."

"What?" The officer jumped to his feet, the chair slamming down from the force. I was surprised that no other officers were around at the moment, but that would be an issue that I would discuss later with the chief. "I can't do that ma'am, unless you plan to pay the hefty bail fine to get them out?"

"Oh I'd happily pay it, if it wasn't for the fact that they're in there for no apparent reason." I laid a hand on the desk while I transformed my eyes into Chalcedony's. It always gave the more intimidating look… "I know fully well that those children didn't do a thing against the law, not resisted when you grabbed both of them. What on earth could their charges be?"

"Stealing."

"Really? I'd like to see those documents and information."

"Ma'am, I realize that you're a powerful trainer with a lot of influence, but your job in this region is to go after murders, not petty crimes like this. I have no obligation to show you any paperwork on them."

"Is that so?" I licked my lips while the man turned his head from em. I could see the fear in his eyes when he tried to look at me. The whites of his eyes just turned so bright when he's afraid. "Well I have evidence to prove they've done nothing wrong. I have video footage of everything they've done from leaving their hometown a few days ago to present. I also have the footage of how you grabbed them and they didn't put up a fight but told their friends not to worry and leave before you _could_ charge them with something. I have receipts for all their purchases and have alibis' for all of them. So…" I leaned my head onto the palm of my hand as I saw the guy deflate from what I had on him. "Why don't we try this again? I want those children out in five minutes, and don't think I won't be talking to your chief about this. Personal vendettas are no reason to arrest the public, and should you mess with these children again… well… let's just say that you being fired is the least of your worries. I am _not_ a woman you wish to piss off."

The staring contest began with Alex standing behind me and the officer and I in the heart of it. The officer's only response to my demand was a 'tch' sound coming from his lips.

"Good." My hand flew before anyone could see and I grabbed the front of the officer's shirt and dragged him over the table to hang below me. "I will not stand for anyone abusing their power against the innocent, no matter the circumstance. You'll do well to remember that next time you decide to do something so incredibly _dumb_."

He could only nod.

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Sorry for the later update guys! Got busy this morning, but here it is!**

 **Alright! So here's another chapter with a lot of craziness going on in just such a short span of time! What the hell? So Bell gets back her pokemon and we have our first encounter with Team Plasma being evil! But Piper and Everett also get arrested and somehow this cop is involved with them! But how? What could he possibly want with them or their family? It's not like their rich or anything…**

 **But anyway, I'm so excited to hear what you guys have to say, so please don't forget to leave me a Review or Send in Questions! My God I can't believe how far we've come!**

 **Love you all and see you next week!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	6. Double Time

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 6: Double Time_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

I groaned as I woke up later that morning. I had finally got to bed near four after Everett and I had been released from jail. I was surprised when we weren't charged and there was no bail, but I saw the way that officer looked at us. He was pissed beyond belief; someone got in the middle of our debacle and helped us escape. We'd have to be careful from now on of him and stay with anyone who can help us. Such as the pair that helped us last night. Even though it had been quiet, I hadn't picked up the name of the person who helped us, or could see them well enough in the dark. That damn officer kept the place too dark…

But I heard her piss him off, and that made me so fucken happy…

I rose from the bed and rubbed my eyes to see that Ivy was already up and holding onto my egg. I could see that Bell was gone from our room after we saw each other last night. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and hurried into the bathroom for a shower. I got my clothes washed while I did that and soon enough was ready for the day.

I made my way down the stairs with Ivy at my side and my egg then in my arms. She and I had already made our peace with how worried Ivy was, and she's already warned me that she plans to attack the man next time. I was worried about that, since if we put up a fight we can actually be charged with something.

But Ivy wouldn't heed me, she deemed me a close friend, and would protect me no matter what.

Once we got down stairs, I saw that the lobby was somewhat cleaned up the next morning. The doors were still being repaired and the furniture had been replaced or set back up if they were in decent enough condition. Nurse Joy seemed to be in a better mood later this morning and the others seemed more at ease, but there was still a tension to the air.

I couldn't blame them; it had just been a few hours ago that the event had taken place…

"Piper!" Bell spotted me as I approached a table where the others were and waved me over. I sat down quickly and Ivy slithered up to my shoulder and hung there.

"Hey guys…" I rubbed some more sleep out of my eyes before showing a grin. "Got any food? I'm starved."

"Here, until you order, have a bite of mine." My brother passed over his plate of pancakes and I eagerly took a large hunk of them. It took no time for me to hardly chew and swallow them, trying to appease the heavy growling in my gut. "So the plan is, once we get a serious meal into us, to head out on the road and head to the next town, Nacrene. Lenora Angus is the gym leader there and she focuses mostly on normal types. She also studies pokemon history and fossils."

"She's sounds like she has a really cool place," Bell noted where she ate her omelet. "I'd love to read some of the material she's collected about certain fields."

"I would as well." Izzy noted. "If she's as serious of a collector as I've heard, then there's some certain things I wish to learn from that place."

"It sounds cool!" I grinned before looking over the menu. "Maybe we can discover some more hidden properties about some of the berries we eat and use them more often!"

"Any information that we could find there would be really cool," Everett noted while taking another bite of his breakfast. "But anyway, we gotta get going if we plan to make it to the next town by tomorrow."

"So where the hell is the waiter then?" I pouted. "I need food!"

"You'll get your food soon enough you idiot," Izzy snarled at me. "Be patient like the rest of us were."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Just for that, you're paying my bill."

He shook his head. "In your dreams Piper."

I smirked and is saw him shiver that the look. "Oh really?"

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"How in the world could you have eaten so much?!"

Izzy was fuming after we had left the pokemon center. I had come through with what I had said earlier and gotten him to pay my tab. He was entirely shocked when I slipped the receipt together with his. He about died when he saw how much he had to pay for the food. There was no way out of it though. I had already walked out of the building so he was forced to pay it while I laughed about it down the route. He was fuming the entire time. I couldn't blame him for that, but still, it was funny as hell.

"You should have been paying more attention Iz," Everett warned him. "You know if you piss this chick off, come hell or high water, she's gonna get you back and make it ten times worse."

"Piper…" Bell pouted as she tried to keep the peace, but I was having none of that. I simply allowed Izzy to fume as we moved about on the route to the west. "Haven't you done enough already? Why not pay Izzy back or make it up to him somehow?"

"Pay him back?" I raised my eye brows at the girl. "You're joking right? He had to pay for my meal for being an ass."

"That's not a valid reason!" Izzy snarled at me, I could see the vein on his head pulsating. It was actually kinda cool to watch when that happened.

I blew him a kiss. "Oh it _so_ is!"

"Ease you two." My brother snickered at us. "I know you like driving each other nuts, but we do have a bit of a schedule to keep."

I pouted at my brother. "But its _fun_ Everett!"

"Fine then, how about a battle?!" Izzy snarled. "I know I can beat you now that I've gotten stronger and I can face you with Pignite!"

We were all surprised as all of our starter pokemon had evolved when we had faced off in our gym battles, with the only exception of Ruff. Izzy's pokemon had also evolved, but Izzy had been wise not to show him when the police officer had been present. His starting pokemon had done well in the fight against the gym leader and as he had evolved and had also taken on a second typing. Pignite was now a fire and fighting type pokemon.

The pokemon stood on two legs then, large, bulky arms to punch enemies with. His body was still burnt orange in color, but more brown fur appeared over the middle of its body, looking like a body suit with two golden pieces attached. The pokemon now was a bit smugger with its evolution, much like Izzy was when he was winning or right.

 _Pignite, the fine pig pokemon and the evolved form of tepig. When its internal fire flares up, its movements grow sharper and faster. When its trouble, it emits smoke. When it is angered, the intensity of the flame increases. There are no known pignite nests in this region._

"Guys…" Bell tried to get in between us again. "Can't you battle in the next town? We still have a lot of ground to cover…"

"It won't take us long Bell." I snickered as I watched Izzy, slowly walking around him and his pokemon with my own right at my feet, slithering slowly and intensely. "Izzy just needs to be reminded who's on top."

He scoffed. "And that would be you?"

I raised my eye brows with a pout. "And just who beat everyone and hasn't lost a battle yet?"

He hissed as soon as I said that. "That's it! Pignite, use-"

"No!" We all quickly turned as two men sped by us before we could blink. A little girl could be seen running behind them toward us where she was running out of breath. "I want my pokemon back! You meanies!"

"They stole your pokemon?" Bell bent down to the little girl's level. She was sobbing and hardly looked older then eight. Bell didn't even talk to the girl before looking back at us with a determined look to her eye. "We have to get it back."

"Way ahead of you Bell." All of our moods changed instantly to serious as we ran after the crooks. Everett and I were in the lead with Izzy right behind us and Bell last, helping the little girl follow after us by taking her hand.

Looking ahead, I could already see the crooks that stole the pokemon, what surprised me some more was the fact that it was Team Plasma. Once more they were doing something that was out of the views that reflected their organization. As far as I was aware, they stood for the freedom of pokemon, or at least abused pokemon.

I couldn't understand why these members of the organization were stealing pokemon. They grabbed Bell's pokemon and hurt it in the last twenty four hours and they also grabbed the little girl's pokemon. Now I knew that not all children were the same and some of them took out their anger on adults, other kids or even pokemon if they got upset, lashing out in emotions, but I could hardly believe that this little girl that we were leading at the time could abuse a pokemon.

We took a turn and suddenly ended up in a cave. My brother had been speaking about the cave earlier on, since we would pass by it and maybe check it out quickly. It was known as Wellspring Cave. It was a small cave with only a few pokemon living it. It was more of a place for people to take shelter when the rain and show hit while traveling. It wasn't very big, perhaps a mile or two at best.

They couldn't get to far away from us… there was only one entrance…

"Stop!" My cry rang out and the men turned to see me catching up to them in the mist of our little chase. They only tried to run faster, but with a nod of my head Ivy sped past me and hurled her vines at the men and grabbed their feet, yanking them back as well as releasing the pokemon in their hold. It was a small panpour that looked absolutely terrified.

"Get back to your trainer little pokemon." My brother and Izzy quickly caught up to me and stood at my sides, Everett being the softer of the two and motioning for the pokemon to run past him. "Go back to your little girl."

The pokemon sobbed for a moment before speeding past us, running for the little girl who was with Bell a ways back. The little girl could only run so fast, and so Bell had stayed with her while we took care of the crooks inside.

"You monsters!" One of the men cried as he tried to get free. "That pokemon had nearly escaped if it wasn't for you!"

"In case you morons are hard of sight and hearing, perhaps I should point out that you stole that pokemon, and it was terrified of you." Izzy narrowed his eyes at the men before us. "All it wanted was to be back with that little girl, and you took that away from them."

"Don't preach at us, you're just kids yourselves!" the other snapped. "What do you known about how people should treat pokemon? You order yours around to fight and hurt others for sport!"

"That's because they _like_ it." I snarled at the two of them while Ivy hurled their bodies into the stone rocks behind them. "Our pokemon fight because that's what they like to do. It thrills them. So for example, if they fought without us ordering them, would that make us better in general?" I shook my head. "Ivy, do what you want with them."

"Sni!" Ivy quickly spun and created a leaf tornado which she hurled at the men before us. The two men cried out in fear before the tornado grabbed them and hurled their bodies through a particularly thin wall and they landed out into the forest past that. Ivy huffed and retracted her vines before slithering up to my side. "Sni sni!"

"Yeah, you showed 'em!" I rubbed her head and she coo'ed at the affection.

"Perhaps we should go check on the pokemon and its partner? I'm sure Bell would like to hear what happened as well." Izzy pointed back the way we came and Everett was quick to agree.

"Yeah, we don't want to worry her too much." My brother grinned. "She'll start nagging us!"

"I do not nag!" All of us turned our heads to see Bell with the little girl and her pokemon. The little girl was holding her pokemon close to her in her arms and the two of them were smiling up at us.

"Thank you so much Miss! Misters!" She hugged her pokemon closer to her chest. "I was so scared when Panpour was taken…"

"It's not a problem little one." I was surprised when it was Izzy who knelt down beside her and patted her head, as well as the pokemon's. "Just be more careful from now on, be in a group, the larger the number the better. They will be less likely to attack again if others are with you."

"I will!" She backed away from him a bit, but the grin never left her face. "I better go home now, bye-bye!"

We watched the little girl wave to us before she took off out of the cave. Once we knew she was safely out and on her way, we left the entrance of the cave and moved in the opposite direction toward the next town, Nacrene.

"That Team Plasma is really confusing…" Bell muttered as we moved about the path once more. "I mean… one second they're giving speeches for us and the others to help and release pokemon, and others their stealing… What on earth are they doing?"

"They keep getting further away from their team objective in situations like these." Izzy held a hand to his chin while he thought allowed. "Could this be the work of members that don't like the pace their organization is moving at and decided upon a more drastic approach? Normally with businesses or groups such as these, their work takes them decades to finally get through to people. Perhaps they hope that these smaller operations of kidnapping will strike fear into others?"

"This is all really confusing…" I shook my head. "I just can't figure out why they chose Bell and that little girl as targets and for going for their pokemon. If their goal is to free pokemon and help them, they why take them from an environment that they love and are loved in?"

"We're not gonna get the answers we want in just a single day here guys." Everett shook his head at us. "Our best bet is to continue on with our journey and hope to help others along the way, should this happen again. If we've already seen a couple of groups of them, then there's a chance that we'll be seeing them again. I'm sure its not just quiet places like this that they're going after, but also busy cities as well where there's too many people to keep track of them all."

"And if the lower level people in the organization are doing it and not getting penalized…" Bell worriedly looked between us. "How far up the chain do you think this goes?"

"Hopefully not as far as we're thinking." My eyes trailed to the ground while our pokemon all looked at us worriedly. Everyone else seemed to also have a dark mood surrounding them all that they were having the same thoughts as I was.

"Still, we can't dwell on this, we should get moving." Izzy seemed to shake himself out of the depressed state and moved forward, the rest of us soon following his lead. "We still have the entire route ahead of us before we reach the next town."

"Well, who knows? If we don't make it there by the time tomorrow, we could just have Ev cook his chowder early!" I snickered and the mood began to brighten between us.

Izzy gave me a bewildered look. "Is food the one thing only on your mind?"

"No… just currently."

His face suddenly turned enraged as he pointed a finger at me. "You still owe me for breakfast!"

I began to skip ahead. "No I don't!"

"Get back here Piper!"

And that was how the tension was broke while my friends and brother chased after me into the next town. I laughed the entire way there while Izzy continued to cuss and scream at me, only to be met with deft ears.

 **Violet's Point of View:**

I watched from a distance as the four kids ran down the forest path to Nacrene. The girl, Piper, was in the lead with the black haired boy, Isadore, right behind her. Piper's brother, Everett, and the blond girl, Isabella, was shortly behind them with all their pokemon to calm the fighting going on, but not trying as hard as I'd seen them before. It was more calming after the morning they had gone through to have moments like this. I could see that Team Plasma had left a worry in the back of their heads that wouldn't go away.

Nor should it…

Alex stood by my side. We watched them from afar within the trees. They were strong trainers for their age, and we knew that they were the ones we had to keep an eye on. After seeing that four other times in the past, it was easy to tell who was going to get into trouble, just like we all had.

There was no mistake. Just like before, the world would be faced with a certain peril that those kids would have to face. And I had the greatest feeling that it would be Piper Theron at the heart of it.

" _So how exactly do you want to proceed with this Sister?"_ On the other endof the line was my youngest brother Tristan. I had called him and the others that were scattered all over the region as we searched for Rose, no doubt in our minds that she was related to these attacks that Team Plasma was putting out. Rose I knew would be in the center of the organizations and their crime. She was working with them, somehow.

"We need to keep close eyes on them, but don't interfere just yet." Alex held the phone in his hands while I spoke. I could feel his warm arm wrapped around my lower abdomen. He held me close while we watched the children move about on the path. "We need to see how these children form themselves with this region. There's also a certain aspect of one of the kids I want to investigate personally."

" _Such as?_ "

"Something that might not be real, but if it is it will make working with her much harder." A chuckle escaped me before I could stop it. "She's the same and yet she's different. She's faced something that none of us have, and it's morphed her, possibly her brother too."

" _Yet you seem to be withholding that information Violet._ "

"Very true." My eyes shifted to Alex as he watched me in question, but uttered no words. "I will alert you should this factor become true, until then, just watch the kids from a distance and try not to interfere unless absolutely necessary."

" _Of course, I will alert the others then. Good-bye Violet._ " The line was cut there and Alex put away the mobile device, storing it in my pocket and pulling me close to him.

"You know how to really drive a hard bargain Vi." Alex shifted and I felt him cover my entire body with his arms, placing his lips against my neck, setting like kisses and sucking on the skin that made me moan before I could stop him. "You're gonna make us watch them twenty-four/seven, aren't you?"

"With the way Rose is after Razi was killed? I don't want to take that chance." He sucked particularly hard on one spot and I nearly squealed with delight. "Alex! I need to stay focused and you should too! Stop that!"

I felt him turn his head by my ear, his breath on the soft flesh that made the hairs on my neck stand on end. "You need to rest some Vi. You've been stressed since we came to this region. And I know exactly what will help you relax."

Before I could stop him, a hand came over my eyes and the same muscles in my neck he sucked on before were bitten. A loud gasp escaped me and my knees instantly couldn't support the weight of my own body. Alex was most of the reason I was still standing.

"I know exactly where to go where we'll still be near them, but I can also take care of you." I felt his hand trailing over my body, instantly leaving a fire in its wake. "Just one night… one of the others can watch them."

"…You suck…!" I nearly squealed when his teeth took my skin again.

I felt the rumble in his chest when he chuckled at me. "Of course I do, but only with you."

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Hey guys, sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I'd been out all day in prepration for the upcoming holidays and had done quite a bit of shopping with my family. I only got home a short while ago and after finishing many Christmas things did I finally get a chance to get over here and update.**

 **Now our characters are just really confused! Team Plasma has them very torn about what they actually are doing and what their not! What is there real goal? And what exactly is Violet concerned about with Piper and her group? Oh I couldn't help the cute moment between them! I always loved Alex and Violet's relationship! Imagine as you will my dear readers!**

 **So don't forget to Review and Send in Questions please! I can't do the final page without them! Also I just love to hear from you guys! Love you all and see you next week!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	7. No Juice for You!

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 7: No Juice for You!_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

Laughter left my mouth as I sped down the path toward the town before me. I could hear Izzy fuming behind me as he chased me, a squirting sound coming up behind me. Behind him was Bell and Everett who brought up the rear with the pokemon while I led them.

This morning had been an eventful one. We had spent some time out on route three and ended up spending the night out there training. It was different from staying in a pokemon center room rather than sleeping under the stars. It was much more beautiful than a room or building. The stars glittered more brightly in the night, and with winter soon to arrive, the air was much clearer, making visual of the stars appear much brighter than normal.

"I'm going to kill you Piper!" Izzy death threats followed me into the city while I carried on laughing. Ivy followed at my side, slithering along the paved roads while I carried my unhatched egg. "How could you do this to me?! I didn't do anything to you! I was fucken good!"

It was rare to hear Izzy swear, but when he did it, it was certainly rare indeed and forced you to take a moment make sure you truly heard him correctly. It actually forced me to stop and take a look at his overall appearance from what I had done early in the morning.

Izzy was covered from the top half of him and down his pant legs with rotten berry juice. While he hadn't done something in particular the night before, I noticed when I checked my bag before bed that some of the berries in my bag were missing. Normally this wasn't a huge issue, one of our pokemon most likely ate them, but that would be my reasoning if anyone asked.

The true reason that I had done that was because Izzy had been the fact that he seemed the calmest he had in a long while after we had settled down. It was strange to see Izzy in a sort of serenity. Seeing him like that gave me weird feeling on the inside of my gut, beautifly like when they flap their wings against our face. I wasn't sure what to make of it, so I plotted against Izzy and it worked in relieving myself of the strange sensation. However, I almost felt some regret in doing it…

"Awe… you're fine!" I snickered at him. "It'll wash out! And the smell isn't that bad!"

"Piper, you promised you wouldn't do this to Izzy unless he really did something," Bell reminded me with a motherly tone.

"Well… I noticed a few berries were missing from my bag…"

"And you assumed it was me!?" Izzy threw off his jacket at my feet. I could only laugh nervously at him before he stormed up to my face and pointed at his jacket. "You're cleaning that while I head off for a shower!"

Izzy left our sights then, heading off in the direction of the pokemon center, leaving his rotten berry juice filled jacket behind at my feet. I sighed and picked it up from where it had been thrown, watching as the berries continued to soak into the fabric, staining the inside of the coat a rich maroon-light purple color from the kasib berries I'd found randomly.

"Piper…" Bell sighed as she watched me before my brother came over and placed a hand on her arm.

"Give it a rest Bell, you know how those two are, like oil and water." Even as my brother said that, he still looked at me wondering what I was thinking about. I could see it in the way his eyes held a different meaning behind them even while he tried to ease Bell's worries.

I'd known I'd have to talk to my brother about this at a later date…

We'd made our way over to where the pokemon center was and stepped inside to see Nurse Joy already with Izzy stained shirt and pants that had been somewhat ruined. She looked at them with a depressed glance in the sense that I bet she didn't think she could get the stain out without a hell of a lot of bleach that would take out all the color.

"Hey Nurse Joy!" The woman turned around to see the rest of our group arrive before her eyes instantly caught the stained jacket in my arms.

"Is that this young man's jacket as well?" She groaned before she held her arm out before her to take it. "I'll get washing these. If you're pokemon would like some healing, set the on the counter in their pokeballs and I'll heal them up in a moment."

"Thanks Nurse Joy." I grinned as I got out of having to wash Izzy's clothes myself and handed her over the coat without hesitation. I could hear Bell beginning to start up an argument, but she quieted down as Nurse Joy left. Out came Chansey right behind her, her trusted partner in this field, who took our pokeballs and healed them.

"Piper!" Bell looked incredibly disappointed in me for passing on my own problems and mistakes, but hey, what can I say? Nurse Joy hadn't even given us a moment to speak before she had whisked off all the clothes that had been stained.

I shrugged at her. "What do you want from me Bell? Nurse Joy took the jacket from me."

"I'm sure that Izzy wanted _you_ to clean it, not find someone else to do it!"

"But I didn't, she took it without even allowing me time to say a word. All I did was greet her."

And that's where Bell couldn't argue with me. She knew that I was right. I had lucked out in this turn of events. There was nothing really that she could do. Nurse Joy was already washing the stained clothing, hoping to get out the stain and I was off scott-free.

Ivy was quickly brought back over to me along with Ruff to my brother. Having few wounds, their healing took much less time than the rest of our friends' pokemon had. I quickly released my pokemon and Ivy stood at my side while Ruff landed on my brother's shoulder, pleased to be back out of their pokeballs.

"Well, I'm heading out for a walk then." I stretched and settled my arms behind my head.

"Aren't you even going to apologize to Izzy?" Bell once again was scolding me and it took all the energy in me to roll my eyes rather than snap angrily at her.

Yet my eyes still narrowed at her while I spoke coolly. "I don't see you telling him to apologize to me when he acts like an ass, Bell."

That shut her up. Bell blinked at me before she pulled back with a shocked look on her face. It very rare for me to be truly mean in any sort of way. I was the more laid back type that went with the flow of things. I didn't let things get to me much, and if anything did bother me, I pranked them. But what often irritated me the most was how Bell often just took Izzy's side no matter what. Was it that in her eyes I wasn't worthy of an apology? Of did she simply think that Izzy couldn't handle me on his own?

Perhaps it was childish to act in this sort of manner, but wasn't I just a kid? I had recently turned thirteen a couple months ago with my brother and Izzy while we waited for Bell to not only turn that age as well, but spend some extra time in town to calm the over stimulated worries of Bell's father.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. This time it was my brother's. "Easy Piper, Bell's just trying to keep the peace."

"And I need some air." I brushed past him and pushed my way out the door. Ivy cried out worriedly before she raced after me. I held onto my egg tightly as I stomped away quickly, trying my damndest not to run.

I didn't need them knowing that I was really upset.

I knew my twin already knew, Everett and I were close, and I'm sure he could feel the strain that was on myself while I moved away from the pokemon center, but I didn't want Bell and Izzy to see me at all like this. I didn't want them to see me with tears in my eyes that weren't from laugher.

I didn't want them to see the true emotions underneath.

I continued to move through town, there was no plan in my head. I assumed I wanted to battle the gym leader at some point, but I just couldn't bring myself to want to battle anyone. I didn't have the desire in this kind of a state.

I just ended up walking… I couldn't remember where I'd been or what I'd even been looking at as the emotions within my body seemed to swallow me up whole, the ones I tried so often, and normally succeeded, in keeping at bay. It was quite rare for these emotions to come spilling forward, but it also made sense that after the conversations I'd had with the other that it would end up like this.

At some point, I remembered coming to in the middle of a park. It was beautiful and rustic. I could see an old train station just a hundred yards or so away from where I was. The park seemed to have re-claimed it as vines and trees grew between the few rusted tracks that were left. Wild flowers still claimed some of the area, but I knew this place would be covered in snow before too long.

What surprised me the most was the girl who stood before me. I hadn't noticed her up until I snapped out of the feelings that I was in. The girl, who stood with rich dark blue hair that fell strait past her shoulders, looked at me with a somewhat blank expression. Her eyes, which were a beautiful hazel color, were the only part of her that seemed to give away any kind of emotion. She seemed to be worried for me. But why I couldn't understand. Her eyes seemed to match the strapless dress she wore of the platinum like color. Black sports leggings seemed to be on her legs as the cold approached along with heeled brown boots. A soft looking grey hoodie, which was unzipped in the front, was over her shoulders while silver clips seemed to hold parts of her hair back.

By her side seemed to be a pokemon of hers. I recognized it as a lucario. Its large black paws were holding onto the girl's hand. The pokmeon looked back between the girl and I and back again. "Car?"

"Mu-huh…" The girl nodded as she muttered to her pokemon. I saw the two of them glance at each other before they seemed to be having a conversation in their heads about me. I couldn't figure out at the time if I thought that was cool or rude.

"Can I help you?" The girl and her pokemon both looked back to me, coming out of their silent conversation. The girl shook her head before she leaned down before me.

"You're… hurting…"

I blinked at her before I jumped up from my spot, my egg spilling out of my arms in shock. Ivy raced to catch it, but the lucario reached it first, holing it in its large arms before gently handing it back over.

"How did you know that?" I backed away from her and her eyes widened slightly. She held up a hand, as if to ask me not to go, but she stopped, her hand halfway up, before she laced it back down at her side. "What do you want from me?"

She simply shook her head. I didn't know what to make of her. She was too quiet, and she was hardly giving out any information for me to use to assist me in anyway.

"Car." The girl turned to the lucario as it spoke. "Car car…"

"…You're right… Paladin." The girl nodded to her pokemon before she turned to me. I watched as she placed a hand over her heart. "I'm… Eira…"

"Eira?" The girl nodded her head at me. Finally, I was getting some information. "Well Eira, I'm Piper."

"Piper…" She seemed to smile lightly at the mention of my name and held out a hand before her, as if to shake it. I reached out my own and grabbed her's, noticing that she had a weak grip. She hardly even held my hand as she shook it. With the way she spoke, she seemed anti-social. If so, then why did she approach me?

"I don't mean to be rude Eira, but what do you want with me?"

The girl blinked at me. She then turned her head to her pokemon who seemed to take her hand once more. After looking at the pokemon, she turned back to me.

"You seemed… upset…" Eira's scarce answer came after a moment of pondering. "I could… feel it…"

"Feel it?" I blinked at her.

The girl simply nodded her head and I didn't get much out of her after that. She was like a wall of sorts. She herself was on the other side, slipping little notes between the cracks in the stone, but they were too short and ill-legible to read or make due with.

That girl… she was so confusing… I couldn't understand any of what she wanted.

"Eira!" We all lifted our heads and look as a blond haired boy rushed over to us. The boy also looked older than me, and perhaps Eira as well. His legs were covered in white jeans that seemed to be smudged with dirt and grime. A bright orange shirt covered the top half of him with a light v cut at the base of his neck. A tan jacket was thrown over his shoulders that clung to him as he came to a stop next to us.

"Parker…" Eira turned to the new person and smiled at him with the most emotion I'd seen since I met her. While she only seemed to have a small smile on her face, it seemed like her eyes were showing the true feelings of her heart, which was that she loved him. And he seemed to reciprocate those feelings.

"I was wondering where you ran off to." Parker pulled her closer to him and kissed her forehead before his gaze looked over to me. "Who's this?"

"Piper…" Eira's mumbled reply I barely heard, but this Parker guy seemed to pick up on it.

"Well it's nice to meet you Piper!" Parker held out his hand. "I'm Parker, Eira's boyfriend."

I blinked at that, not really sure how to respond. It was hard to believe that this girl, who I'd met moments ago, and who was extremely quiet and anti-social, could be in a relationship. Parker seemed to be the exact opposite of her, I could only wonder how in the world they got along.

Parker laughed at my hesitance. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, I didn't think she'd ever agree to date me either."

"Parker…"

Eira's mumbled reply came with some irritation. She looked at him with narrowed eyes and he jumped back nearly in fight.

"Sorry Eira, but a lot of people just have a hard time understanding you."

The girl pouted and turned her head from him. Parker walked over with his hand rubbing the back of his head nervously. Was she really that scary? She hardly looked like she could talk to anyone, let alone strike the fear of Landros into anyone.

"Like I was saying, I'm Parker." The boy held out his hand once more for me to shake. "And your Piper, right?"

"Yeah." I took his hand in mine and his grip was nearly ten times stronger than his girlfriend's. It surprised me as he popped my wrist. I felt good, but I had to fight the instinct to move away. Parker felt the bubble release in my join and looked at me worriedly.

"Sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, it just surprised me was all. You got a hell of a stronger grip then Eira."

"Eh… we're working on that." Parker rubbed the back of his head again before taking his girlfriend's hand into his own. "So what are you doing out here Piper?"

"Getting away for a bit, needed a breather from my friends." I sighed and swung my arms behind my back where they connected with my fingers.

Parker narrowed his eyes. "Did something bad happen?"

"A difference of an opinion."

"Hey, I'm not trying to make it worse, but if you don't want to talk about it, that your own reasoning." Parker held up his hands in surrender. "But hey, don't take it out on them too bad, just remember that they are your friends. They care about you. You just need to talk to them."

"I'll pass for the time being, but thanks anyway for the voice of encouragement." I looked past them and saw that there was a sign directing trainers to the gym. "Not to be rude, but I think I'm gonna take off. I've got a gym battle to go have and I'd rather do it while you guys got me out of the funk I was in."

"Be careful…" Eira's soft reply barely reached my ears. I had to strain for her voice, but I heard it.

"Glad we could help in any way." Parker shook my hand once more before pulling his girlfriend closer to him. "Just be careful, some crazy things have been taking place in this region lately with people stealing other's pokemon."

"Don't worry, I will. Thanks for everything."

I left the then. Ivy trailed behind me while the two humans and the pokemon stood back in the little park. I could feel their stares in my back, but I ignored the nagging feeling that came with it and kept moving forward.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It was only a short while later that I ended up before the pokemon gym of the town. I knew that the gym was supposed to be a library of sorts, but I was shocked as hell when I saw that it was a museum. I kinda knew that it was supposed to be, but just seeing it before me was so shocking, the very sight of it was awe inspiring. It was an off white building with pillars that seemed to help support some of the weight. It was also very fancy looking with etched in details into the walls themselves.

I began to walk up toward the building when I was stopped, a figure had appeared before me. I dared to look up at the figure and saw it was N. I instantly blinked and stepped back a bit from him.

"N? What are you doing here?" The young man only smiled at me, looking at the museum and the people around him before he turned back to me.

"I want to see thigs no one can see. The truths of pokemon inside poekballs. The ideals of how trainers should be. And a future where pokemon have become perfect."

"That's quite a list…" I raised an eye brow at him. "And how is it that pokemon aren't prefect? I think Ivy's pretty awesome, and no matter what this egg will be, I think they will be perfect too."

He narrowed his eyes at me, a curious expression on his face. "You believe they're already perfect?"

"Everyone is special in their own way N, no different than Ivy, myself, or you." I shrugged at him. "Now, not everyone is going to agree to that, since not all humans and pokemon are always going to get along, but that's the point of view I have."

"I see…" I he turned his head away from me for only a moment before he turned back and gestured to me. "But not all pokemon are prefect beings…"

"You mean pokemon that are taken from their homes and forced to do things against their will for humans, don't you?" My gaze softened at him. I knew his heart was in the right place, but I knew he wasn't going about it in the right way in order to handle these problems.

And the sad part was, there would always be problems like this, because humans have to feel power over something… same with pokemon. None of us could be prefect in the way that N wanted.

"I do… don't you feel the same? That all pokemon should be prefect?"

"If you mean would I like a world where pokemon aren't used as tools, then yes, that does sound like a wonderful world. I'd love to see it, maybe we'll be lucky and see it one day."

"That so?" N pulled out some pokeballs to my surprise. "I think my friends and I should test you to see if you can see this future, too." He threw them toward me. "Come my friends! Assist me!"

I was surprised to see three pokemon appear before myself and Ivy. Compared to the last time we'd spoken, N had an entirely different team of pokemon. I saw a pidove as his first pokemon that flew up to his shoulder. However, I didn't recognize the last two. One seemed to resemble a tadpole pokemon while the other one looked like a human child a bit with tan and purple coloring on it and it carried a large thick trunk of a tree.

I pulled out my pokedex to learn more about them. _Tympole, the tadpole pokemon. By vibrating its cheeks, emits sound waves imperceptible to humans. It uses the rhythm of these sounds to talk. Tympole nests are rare and are only found in the Pinwheel Forest._

 _Timburr, the muscular pokemon. It fights by swinging a piece of lumber around. Its close to evolving when it can handle the lumber without difficulty. Timburr nests are rare and are only found in Pinwheel Forest._

Once I knew what I was facing, I stepped back a bit and allowed for Ivy to head up to battle. She sized up her opponent for a moment before hissing out at them.

"Sni…"

"I hope you put up more of a fight then last time N!" I pointed at him as I saw this and he seemed to nod his head.

The young man narrowed his eyes at me. "Show me your true strength Piper!"

I shrugged. "Alright, you asked for it." I turned to my grass type. "Use leaf storm Ivy!"

"Sni!" Ivy summoned the tornado and hurled it at the opposing pokemon. The little dove pokemon that had come out first screamed and dove for its companions who also seemed terrified of the attack. Unable to move due to fear, the three were caught in the mist of it, being hurled and cut from the powerful winds and sharp leaves.

When the tornado died, only moments later, the pokemon fell to the ground. All of them appeared to be knocked out from the single attack. I sighed at the lack of a battle, but it also left me more confused than before.

Why did he keep battling me with pokmon that weren't trained? What exactly was it that he was looking for when he would ask me to do these battles with him? I know he keeps saying that he wants to hear Ivy talk, but could he not do that by talking to her? And why did I only see him when Team Plasma was involved?

"I thought this was going to be different then last time?"

N lowered his head so that his eyes were hidden behind the bill of his cap. "Right now, my friends aren't strong enough to save all pokemon. Maybe I can't solve the equation that will change the world. So, I need power… Power enough to make anyone agree with me."

I took a step back, unsure of how to take his response. "N…"

"Now I know what power I need." He turned away from his, his back the only thing I faced me then. "Zekrom! The legendary pokemon that, along with the hero, created the Unova region. It's my turn to become that hero, and you and I will become friends!"

Before I could say another word to the young man, he took off down the streets, his wounded pokemon returned and he himself gone from sight. I watched where he was only moments ago, before I sighed.

"Well, I might as well head off to battle the gym leader." I turned to Ivy. "Things can't get any worse than this, right?"

She narrowed her eyes to me. "Sni!"

I sighed. "Your right… I should keep my mouth shut…"

 **Everett's Point of View:**

Since my sister had left, Bell and I sat around the pokemon center just thinking over her words alone. She was entirely right in the sense that Bell normally took Iz's side without a second thought due to the fact that Piper always teased him. It put us in a sticky situation. Bell was right partly, but it also meant that Piper was given enough attention and love too.

It was also kinda irritating as well because Iz didn't always mind Piper's pranks. In the few moments where it had been him and me, he's admitted that on the occasion, he didn't mind the pranks. It reminded him often of when he was a child and her and Piper had met, well before Bell and I.

Piper and Iz were the first ones to meet each other in our little group and become friends. It was only a while after that when I met Iz and then Bell moved into the town from Undella. In ways that I don't understand, those two just have a special bond. That bond is much deeper than anything Bell or I could understand.

Now Piper may still prank Iz, and he may be an ass to her, but that's just the way they are. But when they agree on something, when they work together, it's like their two-different people and the real way they want to act or feel comes out. It's pretty weird to see… but kinda cool.

"Thank you for waiting on me." I raised my head to see Izzy come down the stairs with his clothes newly washed, stains out, and clean. However, once he got a good look at us, Iz blinked and became worried. "What is the matter?"

I sighed. "Well… right after you left… Piper and Bell got into a bit of an argument that left Piper pissed and she ran off."

"I'm so sorry…" Bell quietly sobbed a few feet away, huddled on a seat. "I didn't know she felt that way… I didn't know she was mad."

"Piper can be a tough one to read on the occasion." Iz worriedly looked back and forth between the two of us. "I'm more than willing to bet that Piper has gone to the gym for a battle in order to calm down. Perhaps I should go find her? I can smooth things with her first and then you can later on Bell. Even if we act like water and oil most of the time, Piper does have feelings beneath the surface and does feel hurt when you take my side more often than hers."

Bell pouted, showing her watering eyes to him. "That's really weird to hear you say Izzy. You and her argue all the time!"

"Even if we do argue, it is just the way Piper and I always communicate." Iz sat down then as he began to explain things to her. "Piper and I have always had a strange relationship. I find that she normally uses pranking to hide how she truly feels. Even if I detest the ones that truly are messy, you have to look beyond that to see how she handles the prank and it gives you inside to how she's feeling."

"Really?" Bell's eyes widened with the new information.

"Oh yes, such as well throughout complicated pranks means that she's having fun. Its more the process then the end result for her. Yet, when she preforms rushed pranks that take little to no time to put together, about eighty or so percent of the time she' trying to hide how she really feels."

"I thought something funny was going on." I pouted as I remembered the weird face on my sister's face when she woke this morning. "She was acting a bit differently."

Iz narrowed his eyes at me. "Yes, well, I don't have the luxury of being her twin and knowing her feelings from being connected in spiritual ways that are exclusive only to you, Everett."

"Still," we both turned back to Bell. "If she rushed the prank, then what's wrong? Was she mad at us before she snapped? Or was this something different that aggravated her a bit and then I didn't help with my nagging?"

I scoffed. "Did you just admit you nag? Iz! We gotta put this in the papers!"

Bell scowled. "Everett!"

"Focus Everett!" Iz snapped at me. "This is serious."

I ducked my head. "Sorry, couldn't help it. I probably wouldn't be hearing that again, so I had to take advantage of it."

"Anyway, it could be a number of things that could be bothering Piper." Iz held a finger to his chin. "Everett had mentioned that she was acting strangely this morning. So whatever is taking place happened well before her prank."

"Maybe she started her cycle?" Bell suggested. "I know that she and I aren't the nicest to be around when we start that."

"Amen," I snickered quietly under my breath, but Bell picked up on it and hurled a pillow at my face from the couch she sat next to.

"I'm serous Everett Theron!"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

"Enough you two, you may finish you own lovers spat later." Iz rolled his eyes at us while Bell and I got very red…

The blond squealed. "I'm not in a lover's spat!"

"You sure Bell?" Even with the thick blush on my face, I couldn't resist the joke. "But I just picked the most beautiful wedding china for us. I didn't think you'd break it so soon…"

"Enough of this, I can't handle the two of you and your insanity while trying to discuss this." Iz stood and moved away from us. "I plan to go find Piper and bring her back. Work our… whatever that is… before I come back with her."

And with that he was out the door. The little blond girl I'd known for a long time was fuming at the seams with her little hands in fists, shaking.

"Everett!"

 **Piper's Point of View:**

It hardly took me any time to make it into the historical building. The museum was busting with books and knowledge to look over and read. I wanted to do that so badly, but I wanted to get my gym battle out of the way while I still had a bit of a good mood to me after meeting Eira and Parker, and then battling N.

While walking through the hallways, I noticed quite a few trainers around that were reading books with their pokemon at their sides. Many of them picking up good tips and just enjoying a good read. Looking through all of them, I soon saw a woman in a lab coat appear who I had a good feeling would lead me to the gym leader.

"Excuse me?" The woman took around at me, she was very pale in skin color, so I knew already off the bat that she wasn't Lenora. The gym leader was a fairly dark skinned woman, richer then dark chocolate in color, but this woman was almost ghostly light.

"Yes? Do you need help finding some material?"

"I will later, but right now I'm looking for Lenora for a gym battle?"

She sighed. "You trainers have certainly kept poor Lenora going all day. You're quite lucky, she planned to close her gym in about an hour, so you have just enough time to ask her for one." She gestured me to follow while she grabbed a few books from the shelves we passed. "Follow me to the back."

 _Damn… I should have come here right away… But at least I am getting a gym battle…_ I followed after the roman though the many pathways and maze like room of the library they had here before the gym. I was led to where a partially hidden door, barely cracked open to the area before it. Once we had stepped inside, I noticed that there was a large research area where the very said dark skinned woman I was looking for sat.

"Lenora? You have another challenger." The pale skinned woman said to her superior before her.

"Another? Do I still have time to battle?" Lenora took and looked over the clock, causing the hair on her head to shift slightly, sneaking out from behind the bandanna that keep the turquoise looking strands out of her face. Her apron moved slightly as well, wrinkling slightly with the way she turned to face the clock that hung behind her. When she saw the time, she smiled. "I guess I have enough time for one more."

The woman stood then, showing me the apron she wore that darkened from white at the shoulders to a pale pink at the bottom, blue baggy pants were behind them, and a white shirt behind her apron. She walked over calmly and shook my hand.

"I'm Piper Theron. I was hoping I'd get lucky enough to battle today, got a bit worried when I heard you might be closed."

"Oh no! I still got time! I just need some time later this day to catch up on some other work." She chuckled as she motioned me to follow her to the back of the room. "I normally don't do this, but during the winter, trainers don't like coming out during the snow, so they try and come and battle myself and the other gym leaders before it becomes messy in weather."

"Well I guess I got lucky then." I grinned at the woman before the end of the room had a door that opened up to a closed in battlefield. Lenora walked over to one side and I moved to the other, taking the challenger's box. Ivy I had returned to her pokeball before we had entered the building, with all the people roaming around the library I didn't want to lose her in the maze, especially when she was still so small. Perhaps when she evolved again I would.

"So, I have two pokemon I face off with, I hope you can handle them both." Lenora quickly pulled out her first pokeball. "I'll start out with Herdier!"

I wasn't surprised to see a pokemon that looked much like Bell's normal type appear before me. I felt a shiver of anger run up my spine as soon as I saw the pokemon that reminded me of the girl who I fought with earlier in the day. I let out a breath in order to calm myself.

 _Easy Piper, don't be angry at them, it's not Bell or the others._

"Alright, let's go then Ivy!" My grass type instantly was out of her pokeball and my grip tightened on my egg just slightly.

"Start us off Herdier! Use bite!" The normal type began to run toward Ivy. She narrowed her eyes and waited on my order

"Vine whip!" Ivy hurled her tail around herself and whipped it back. The pokemon yelped out as its body collided with Ivy's tail and was hurled into the back wall.

"Herdier?!" Lenora looked on in surprise as her pokemon had been hurled out of the way so easily. Had I become too strong? I was very surprised to just see how easily I had taken down the pokemon.

Said pokemon fell out of the wall a few moments later, it was entirely knocked out from the hit. Lenora looked stunned as she watched her pokemon that only lasted for only a few moments. Perhaps it was a newer pokemon to her team? Perhaps she had been spending too much time working at the museum then as a trainer with her pokemon. Or perhaps I simply had become that strong.

There was no way…

"So, the video footage wasn't lying when I saw your battle with Chili…" Lenora looked partly furious with me being so strong. "It makes me a bit frustrated, yet I will make up for that. Return Herdier, let your friend avenge you." Her second pokeball was thrown out. "Go Watchog!"

Another normal type soon appeared before us. It was narrow in its body, and tall looking, even if it was only a couple feet high. Its blinding red eyes caught my attention compared to its rich brown fur. I quickly pulled out my pokedex to look up its information.

 _Watchog, the lookout pokemon and the evolved form of patrat. When they see an enemy, their tails stand high, and they spit the seeds of berries stories in their cheek pouches. They make patterns on their bodies shine in order to threaten predators. Keen eyesight lets them see in the dark. Watchog nests are somewhat common and are one routes one, seven, fifteen and eighteen._

I looked up then to see the pokemon shaking in a rage. I blinked in shock before Lenora threw out her hand.

"We'll make this quick. Go Watchog! Use retaliate!"

My eyes widened as the opposing pokemon snarled and lunged forward, grabbing my pokemon and hurling them both into the wall. It was a struggle after that to see the pokemon attack at blinding speed against my pokemon. My eyes widened in shock as Ivy couldn't keep up. She screamed in pain as she was bitten, clawed, and hurled around like a rag doll.

"Ivy!" Just as I shouted out, she was hurled past me a moment later. I dared to turn and catch her eye as she weakly collapsed out of the wall she was hurled into.

"The move 'retaliate' itself is a powerful move, but works best and at its strongest when an ally as fallen," Lenora stated as she watched the field with careful eyes. "You're the type of trainer who has strong pokemon flock to her, who uses moves that can take out an opponent only after being used once or twice. I know better than to say I can beat you, this battle is up in the air. While retaliate is a powerful move, it bears incredible exhaustion on the user, so as long as your pokemon survived that move, we'll be at an eve slate, it will be merely who can attack their opponent first."

I cursed as I looked over at Ivy to see her struggle to stand. In the single attack alone, she had been nearly taken down. I'd never had that happen in the entire time I'd been a trainer. Not even when I faced all three of my friends right after one another did Ivy come to a strait like this. I could see how serious the wounds were on her and I'd have to treat her quickly, then get her to Nurse Joy as fast as possible.

But damn it all, I was gonna win that match. We damn well were gonna try.

"Ivy! Can you move?" My grass type pokemon nodded to me in her tired state. She held her arm closer to her body, easily showing how it may have been bruised beyond the point of repair at the time. Nurse Joy would help us, but I couldn't wait long. "Ivy, leaf tornado!"

"Watchog, use detect!"

And that was what did it.

Ivy screeched out, from not only the wounds on her, but from summoning all the energy left in her to handle this opponent. The watchdog stood there as the attack came flying at it, unable to protect itself from how tired it was. The pokmeon let the hit happen and it was hurled before Lenora at her feet.

Her eyes, they weren't upset, they more looked happy. I was unsure why, but perhaps I helped her to learn something? It was something would probably never know.

"You did well, do be able to withstand that attack and still come out the victor proves your determination and strength. You more than deserve my badge." The woman slowly approached me and once she stood only a foot or so away, she held out her hand. Sitting in the palm of it was a badge that looked like the spine of a book. It was purple in color with gold representing the edging. "It's the basic badge, now you only need six more."

"Thank you, Lenora, I greatly appreciate this." I smiled at the woman before I turned to Ivy. "And you were amazing! But I better get you to Nurse Joy and heal up your wounds so you can party later!"

"Sni!" She smiled a me through the pain while returned her to her pokemon, holding the egg tightly still to my chest.

"Yes, you better get her healed." Lenora smiled at me before something daughter her eye. "Sorry kid, just had my last battle for the day. Come back tomorrow."

"Oh, I plan to Miss Lenora, but the reality of the situation is that I'm actually here of Piper at the moment rather then you."

I dared to whip around my head to see my best friend standing there. He stood at the entrance Lenora had led me through only minutes ago, but I was happy to see him. Izzy honestly was one of the ones who wasn't pissed with and it made me smile to see him, even if I'd had such a crappie day.

"The others and I were worried for you, I offered to come out and find you while they gave you a bit more space." Izzy approached me with a softer face then he normally would. "Are you alright Piper?"

I scoffed at him. "Why wouldn't I be? I just got my second gym badge!" I rolled my eyes at him. "Why don't we walk and talk? Ivy's in the need of some desperate healing."

"Very well." Izzy nodded his head before turning to the older woman. "Miss Lenora, I will return in the morning. Will eight give you enough time to prepare?"

"More than enough." Lenora merely smiled at the two of us before she took off to another door. "Enjoy your night kids, I've got work to do before the day is done."

Izzy and I then left through the door we arrived in. We walked through the many hallways of the library portion of the museum and gym before we arrived outside. The bitter air nipped at me compared to the warm rooms inside the building that had been heated.

Yet, once we were outside, Izzy stopped me.

"Piper, please be honest."

I sighed. "Can't you just let this go for a bit?"

Izzy took a moment to think before shaking his head. "I'm afraid not Piper. I've heard what the others have told me, but I would like to hear your side of the story. What bothered you this morning to rush through a prank on me? It is unlike you to do such a thing. And another, you blew up at Bell. The poor girl hardly understands what happened and I believe it would be beneficial to assist her in the matter."

"I was mad at Bell because she always would take your side." I huffed. "And I get why she does it, I do prank you often, but it's like there's no hurt feelings every time she does it. It's like I have no feelings in her eyes, I'm just happy, go lucky, pranker."

"Do understand, Bell does regard your feelings, however, normally it is I who needs the emotion boost because you've degraded me so."

"Really?" I raised my eye brow and stopped in the street. "Doesn't feel like it."

"You must understand that Bell never meant to hurt your feelings, I'm sure that she never meant any harm, but she is very sorry. She was nearly in tears when I left." Izzy shook his head. "Perhaps I may need to state to her that she should stay out of our affairs, regardless of how often you prank me, at least I know you're in good spirits."

"That wouldn't hurt." I rolled my eyes, but hearing the words coming from Izzy telling me how things went mellowed my anger. We began to walk again, I followed after the male while we kept our eyes on the street before us. "I'll talk to her tonight, apologize to her. And I'm sure I worried Everett too."

"They were quite worried, Everett had even mentioned that you seemed… off this morning." Izzy looked back at me. "Would you explain to me what happened?"

"I just… felt off this morning… I don't know what caused it." It made me glad it was Izzy with me rather than my brother, because only my twin would be able to tell it was a lie. And I certainly wouldn't tell Izzy the truth.

Not now, not ever.

"I see… well, should you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me. I'd prefer that to your pranks."

I grinned at him. "But that's how you know I'm good!"

"Ah… I should have known…" Izzy groaned. "Let's just back, we have many things still to do, and you're poor pokemon needs healing."

"That's right! Ivy!" I nearly drop the egg in shock before I took off running. "Let's go Izzy!"

"Piper!" He called after me but I didn't reply as I hurried out to the pokemon center. I had things to do, and little did I know that the next day I would be dealing with more of the craziness that even outshined that day.

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Guys, I'm SO sorry for getting this chapter up later. I hope you guys can understand that the holidays are taking up so much of my time! I had the chapter done, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now! So, sorry guys, don't hate me!**

 **But what did you think? Quite a different side of Piper to see, as well as Izzy. Will we see more of this strange relationship? Or will it go back to where they hate each other?**

 **Love you all and see you next week! Don't forget to Review and Send in Questions!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	8. Stolen

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 8: Stolen?_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

The night before had gone better than I had initially thought. Bell had been a sobbing mess much like Izzy had stated, but as soon as I walked through the door, she threw herself at me in tears, apologizing left and right. After seeing her face like that, I just couldn't be mad at her anymore…

Izzy had then taken the time to bring everyone together and explain how Izzy and I often worked with each other. However, it took a few hours in order for us to get through the entirety of it. Many people of even our families hardly knew how we met and how we got along so well. Izzy and I had met when we were five. Believe it or not, he had been a shy kid with no wit to him compared to now. I was a wild child that could hardly be control after the terrible event that took place when I was three. Izzy had brought me back to reality while I had given him the confidence he needed.

Apologizes had been given all around and finally we had come to be on friendly terms with each other again.

The next morning had come and after all of us had gone to get breakfast before heading over to the gym. My brother and friends had yet to battle Lenora to get their next gym badge and it was our plan to head over there and knock them out of the way before moving onto the next city.

However, things didn't turn out that way.

Upon arriving at the museum, crowds of people were gathered. It was hard to tell what was going on with all of them yelling, screaming or attack in some ways. I could see many young trainers fighting against another party, but I couldn't see just who they were facing until we got further into the crowd.

"What the hell?" I muttered as I looked about the location.

Team Plasma was around the museum, guarding the front of it from letting people enter. I had no idea what in their wildest thoughts that they were doing, but it wasn't something that we were going to allow.

"Come on!" I quickly released Ivy, my only pokemon who had been healed from her battle the previous day, her tail already swinging before I tell her what to do. "Ivy, shove the out of the way!"

"Sni!" Ivy race forward and threw out her vine like tail that slammed into the bodies of the Team Plasma members, hurling them to the side. I was surprised when no pokmeon met as resistance against myself before I saw the members flood out of the area.

"Damn you fiends! Get back here!" Lenora came storming out of her gym with her other members of the research team and her library flanking her. "Give back the skill!"

The members of Team Plasma hardly payed her a seconds notice as they took off to the west, something they seemed to have stolen along with them.

"Lenora! What seems to be the matter?"

We all turned our heads to the new man who had joined us. He was a young man that had pale skin in comparison to the rich color of Lenora's. His hair was short and curly, framing around his face. His legs were long, accented by the vertical lines of black and red on his pants. The green shirt was accented as well by the small red scarf over his neck to make his pale green eyes stand out. He seemed out of breath from the way he ran through the crowds.

"What's the matter?" The woman snarled as she glared in the direction the thieves had taken off in. "Those horrendous hoodlums ran away with an exhibit! That's what!"

"Let's hurry after the then to cut them off before they get much further." Izzy stepped forward for the Lenora and the man to see us. "The four of us would be more than willing to help."

"Good, I'll take all the hands I can get." Lenora stood before us. "Everyone pair up and search every inch of that forest. We won't let them escape." She turned between all of us. "Glasses, you're with me. Blondie and boy with the cap, you team up. Piper, you and Burgh go together."

"Pleasure to meet you Piper Theron." The Christmas colored man walked over to me. "Lenora just sent over video last night of you guy battle. I'm eager to face you when you come to Castelia."

"I'm eager too, but let's focus for now on getting back that item." I turned back to Lenora. "What are we looking for?"

"A Dragonite skull. The one I had on display at the front of my museum was taken before me." The woman cursed and clenched her fists. "They won't be getting away with this!"

Before we could stop the woman, she stomped off in the direction of the forest to the west, Pinwheel Forest. Izzy hurried after the woman who would be his partner for this missing and I turned to my own.

"We better get going."

"Splendid idea."

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It took us hardly any time to catch up with Lenora and Izzy as they had entered the forest, the dark-skinned woman clearing a path as she fumed. Any trainers or bystanders who dared to watch the woman as she hurled her way down the path was met with a glare fiercer then any inferno this world could offer the eyes of the living.

The forest itself that we had arrived at was richly thick, which is why so many of us had to split up and investigate it. Even with it being the heart of autumn, nearly the end as we came closer to winter in that year, the trees were still thick and many of the trees were pines, spruces and firs just as much as there were many different varieties of deciduous trees. The leaves many have been leaving, but the needles remained. It still made the forest quite thick, and even in the winter, the snow would make it still difficult to find you way, even going as far as being the most confusing time of year when it came to direction.

Early on we had all split up. Lenora and Izzy had taken the first path that they had come across. Bell and Everett were shortly behind the with the next path we came toward. After that, only two paths remained before us, one that continued to head strait west toward the Skyarrow Bridge that led to the city Burgh resided in, and the other drifted deeper into the woods.

"Well, it would see here is where we would part ways Piper." Burgh said as he stepped before me, turning back to give me a look. "I plan to go on ahead to where the exit is and cut off their path to escape to my city, perhaps you'd be willing to go after them in the woods?"

I shrugged at him. "It's not like it's going to bother me, besides, we promised Lenora we'd get back the skull."

"Yes, exactly!" Burgh grinned. "Now I plan to head up the path and you scurry along now. Can't have those ruffians getting away, now can we? Lenora would have our heads as well as theirs, depending on who she caught first."

A reply just wouldn't come out of my throat. I simply watched as the man smiled innocently and hurried off to the western side of the forest where the other entrance was, which would be one of the only two location they would be able to fit a dragon pokemon's skull through. I mean… that thing was pretty big. I didn't think I'd be able to carry it on my own….

Burgh had left shortly after that and headed down the path the led to the exit to the west and I was finally left alone to my thoughts. Ivy curled up beside me on the side of my leg while I held my egg tightly in my arms, warm and soft heart beating that I could feel through the shell.

This morning had been so crazy with how fast we had jumped out of bed and come strait over to the museum. Team Plasma still confused me so much with everything that they did, what they stood for, their little side group that seemed to be defective and getting more chaotic by the day... It worried me just how much damage they would truly do to the region, not only that, but how negatively would this hurt the main part of the organization.

"Hold it right there!" I halted, obeying g the words for only a moment before I looked up to see a group of Team Plasma grunts appear before me. "You ain't getting past us kid!"

"And who exactly is going to stop me?" I raised an eyebrow at the few of them. "You?"

"Damn right we are! And we'll be taking you pokemon too!" A female grunt was the one to speak to me next. She pointed her finger at me, it shaking in laughter.

I rolled my eyes. "Ivy, have whatever fun you like with them."

"Sni!" My pokemon nodded, a grin appearing on her face. She detached herself from my side before she laughed herself at the members. They couldn't let out their pokemon fast enough before Ivy had knocked them out.

I smirked, walking over to the female grunt and hovering over her. "Now who was going to be taking my pokemon, bitch?"

She just growled.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

I ran into more grunts then I could possibly imagine. Ivy still had plenty of energy, walking in-between fights and taking no damage, but the two of us had to be getting to something by that point. We'd been searching for a few hours for the skull with little luck, but I could hear fighting taking place all over the forest. It seemed the gym leaders and my friends were taking their jobs seriously.

I found a large hallow log before me that I walked through that ended up with me in a clearing. A lone grunt was standing there guard a large, smooth skull. My eyes widened when I saw that I was the one to find it.

"I didn't really think I'd be the one to find the skull." The grunt raced to look at me before digging out some pokeballs.

"You won't even be getting it back you pest!" He hurled out two pokemon, a sandile and a woobat. "Attack!"

The two pokemon hurled themselves over at us before Ivy and mailed away from one another. I landed a few feet back while was in the heart of them, dodging their attacks as they lashed out at her. Ivy nearly danced between the two of them as they tried to hurt her.

"Sni, sni!" Ivy laughed as she switched around before she soaked her vine like tail into their bodies and hurled them into the trees behind the grunt. I smirked as I the grunt backed away slowly.

"You damn brat...!"

"Sorry, but be glad it was me you faced instead of Lenora." I snickered while the grunt and I moved before I stood beside the skull with Ivy rather than the grunt. "She's really pissed and planned to take your head off."

"Your damn right!" I turned my head just as Lenora stomped up out of the woods. At some point, she had been joined by Burgh who followed after her figure nervously.

"Good job there Piper!" He grinned at me. "You got it!"

I shrugged. "It wasn't that much of a problem. Had to come out this way anyway."

"Still I'm grateful."

To my utter horror, Lenora was able to lift the skull all by herself, holding it like a sack of potatoes over her shoulder, and she stepped back while the grunt leapt back in fright.

"What are you?! Some sort of fucken amazon?!"

A vein popped on the top of Lenora's head and I saw the grunt flinch under her murderous gaze, cold like a blizzard slicing winds. The grunt backed up until he hit something. I was surprised to see another man join us here in our little clearing.

The man stood before us was dressed in decorative robes or a rich brown color. They filtered all the way down to the ground where you for barely see the dress shoes stick out from under it. A small hat was situated on his head, round and also brown in color. His hair was a salt and pepper color, leaning a bit more toward white.

The aura around him had been strange. I could hardly stand it...

"Sir! " The grunt to his feet. "I'm so sorry Sir... We've lost the skull."

The man waved his hand dismissively. "It means nothing. The skull is no longer of any importance. We will remove ourselves from the area."

The grunt looked at the man with wide eyes before nodding and fading into the trees. I was surprise the man hid so well with all the autumn leaves standing g out against his white and grey uniform.

"You two... Lenora the gym leader of Nacrene and Burgh, the gym leader of Castelia... Be very aware that your status as gym leaders mean little to us. We will still continue on with our operations like always. And you child, Piper Theron..."

I blinked at the man who stood before me. He stepped forward and Burgh and Ivy dove before me, protecting me from the man. I stared him back down, not showing him him unnerved I was by watching him.

"It was good to see the interest of our king." My eyes widened at his words. "I can see why he is interested in you. Your strong spirit to stop our group is quite memorizing. But you must also understand that we will not stop. Our king will soon come for you, and either take you or face you."

Before I could even think about what he meant by that, the man vanished into the forest.

"Damn!" Lenora hissed, she had nearly looked ready to hurl the skull in frustration after all the time we had spent just trying to get it back.

"Easy Lenora!" Burgh came over before she could complete the deed. "We got what we came for, the dragonite skull is in safe hands again. We should head back to the gym and get it back where it belongs. Okay?"

While Lenora wasn't pleased with that news, she agreed. She huffed out and the tension in the atmosphere seemed to fade. As soon as it had, we heard running before an officer came out of the woods. My eyes widened to see it was the same officer that had grabbed Everett and I before.

 _Oh, why in hell does he have to be here?_

"Miss Lenora! Are you alright? The skull found?"

"It's fine, and yes, we have the skull back." Lenora moved the large skull on her shoulder.

"We'll be heading back to the gym momentarily."

"Of course, I'll take care of the girl for you." I flinched back as he moved toward me, however Burgh stood in his way.

"Piper has been nothing but helpful to us. I would recommend you stay back, Officer."

The man hissed, but also backed away when Lenora stood in his way as well.

"We know all about you Officer Angel Hartley. Miss Vilmos gave us all the details on you and that we should be watching you and your strange behavior." Lenora narrows her eyes at him. "Leave Piper be. What you felt with in the past has nothing to do with her."

Officer Hartley glared at the lot of us. His glare more extended to me as I was protected behind the two gym leaders. He was terribly angry that he couldn't get to me again. He'd be even more pissed if he knew Everett was in their forest too.

"Leave." Lenora's voice sniped at him.

"Don't worry Lenora, I'll walk back with him." Burgh quickly came forward and patted the officer's shoulder. "Shall we Hartley?"

The man growled as he saw I once more slipped between his first fingers. Against his wishes, he followed Burgh out of the clearing.

Lenora turned to me once they were gone. "Your best leave before Burgh releases him Piper. Get your bother and friends and head to a public location."

I nodded to the woman quietly before she turned to leave. As she left, I saw a white stone pop out of the skull and land on the ground before my feet. Lenora didn't notice as she continued walk away.

"L-" Before I could say anything, I felt my heart ache after my gaze left the stone, just I had fallen to my knees. Lenora had left already and hadn't heard me. I looked back to the stone and instantly grabbed it in my hands. It was smooth, a pure white color other then three spots spread equally on its sides.

At that moment... I didn't want to give it up.

I stood back up, patting the head of Ivy who watched me worriedly.

"I'm okay girl. Just a headache." I sat back up with the stone in my free hand. "We'll just keep this guy then, doesn't look super important. It probably got in the skull when the grunts dragged it all over the forest.

Little had I known at the time that the stone would have been so much more important...

"Piper!" I turned my head just as my friends and brother appeared. I placed the stone in my pocket before any of them could see it. Bell slammed into me, hugging my body tightly. "Are you okay?!"

"We saw that asshole again. We got worried." My brother touched my arm. " Did he get you?"

"I'm okay. He didn't even touch me." I smiled at them. "Lenora and Burgh protected me."

My brother sighed. "I'm so glad... But look what I got!"

The pokemon I saw before me seemed to be that mostly of a maroon color. It was mostly a bug type. It had a lazy look to its eyes as it hung in my brother's arms, Ruff watching his new friend from his perch on my brother's shoulder. It had two little antennas on its head while the back half to if seemed to be green, with two small marron tails sticking out of its body. I quickly pulled out my pokedex to look at it.

 _Venipede, the centipede pokemon. It discovers what is going on around it by using the feelers on its head and tail. It is brutally aggressive. Its bite injects a potent poison, enough to paralyze large bird pokemon that it can prey on it. This pokemon's nest is rare and has only noted to be seen in both the Pinwheel Forest and the Lostlorn Forest._

"He's cute!" Bell praised from his side. "Did you give him a name like Ruff?"

"Yeah, his name is Trample!" My brother grinned.

"Why this is exciting and all, perhaps we should head out?" Izzy suggested to us. "We don't want to risk the officer coming back."

"Hell no!" Everett snapped. "Let's get out of here!"

We shortly left after that. I followed my friends out of the woods and into the town where we stayed safely for a while, until that damn officer left town...

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Hey you guys, so sorry about this late update! The holidays were just so crazy that it was hard to really get to the computer at all until earlier in the week, so happy late Christmas! I figured since I was already late with the chapter from last week, I figured I'd just do a double update! I know that probably doesn't make up for what happened, but please forgive me everyone!**

 **And please do Review you guys, I've hardly been receiving any reviews and I have hardly any idea what people think of this story! You guys are the reason I keep writing, so I'm gonna need some help here to keep me pushing! You're reviews get me giddy and it sends me into a typing mode that just can't stop!**

 **Love you all and see you next week! Please don't forget about me and happy late Christmas everyone!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	9. Hardship

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 9: Hardship_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

We were stuck in Nacrene for nearly a week before we could leave... The damn officer was placed on duty in town and watched us like hawks while we were here. During the entire time, he worked where was somewhere nearby, but the gym leader also kept an eye on us, helping us escape his grasp. Lenora had been our ally in the mist of all of this. While Izzy and Bell could have left any time they wanted, Everett and I were trapped in the city. It sucked that we weren't able to leave right away, but we spent the time training with Lenora or building up more strength.

Finally, Officer Hartley let us be and was moved to another station further to the north. Lenora had mentioned something about him being moved over to where Undella was or something along those lines. However, the details didn't matter. All that mattered in that moment was that we were able to leave finally and move onto the next chapter in our journeys.

"Come on your guys! Let's get going!" Bell was eagerly pulling on my arm as she dragged me away from the pokemon center where we had just finished up lunch. We had a bit of a late start, wanting to have as much distance between us and Officer Hartley.

"Calm down Bell!" Everett somehow pried her hands off of me while she latched onto him. "We're coming!"

"But I wanna move already! That mean officer kept us from doing _anything_!" Bell pouted as she looked back at us, slowing down a bit for us t catch up.

"While the officer's actions were… unwanted and ridiculous, now we are able to leave, so please calm yourself Bell, we are moving as quickly as we can." Izzy replied to her. "I doubt much more could get us mov-"

"Duck!" I whispered to all of them before yanking them behind a building. All of my friends looked at me in a confused manner before we all looked round the corner of the building to see what we were hiding from, and that was an angry, Italian father by the name of Marcus Adhira.

"Oh no!" Bell nearly shrieked. "Daddy found us!"

"No, he didn't not yet." Everett looked out into the street where Marcus was walking toward the pokemon center. "We left just in time, and now, we gotta move!"

"Let's take the alley ways!" We hurried behind the brick buildings of the city, out of the sight of Marcus Adhira who was not only looking for us, but for his precious daughter who he wanted to bring home.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Wow… this is the most beautiful spot I've ever seen…"

I was memories by the sights ahead of me as I looked out to where the sea reflected the colors of the sunset. After running all over town to escape Marcus, we rushed through the Pinwheel Forest and finally arrived at the Skyarrow Bridge.

The day was ending, most of the afternoon and early night hours were used to escape the crazed father of Bell. The colors that danced on the water and in the sky, rich hues of orange, red, pink and purple. They matched the tones of many of the leaves that surrounded us, but not much longer would we have seen them.

The others were ahead of me by a few steps, I only trailed behind a bit to think about some of the things that we'd seen in the last day or so. Seeing Team Plasma once again on the wrong side of things had me worried as we continued along the bridge. I thought about all the places we'd seen them, and the comment that older man had said to me before…

 _It was good to see the interest of our king…_

What on earth did he mean by that? Who was there king? What did their king want with me, and what the hell did he mean by "take me" or "break me"? And what also worried me the most was that their "king" had taken interest in me… did that mean that the entire organization was out to steal pokemon and being pokemon lovers was just a front? A disguise to hide what they truly did behind closed doors?

It scared me, because all the bad of their organization was starting out weight the good…

I jumped when I head a squeal on the wind and roughly turned to look over the edge of the bridge. I mostly just saw the waves from how high up we were, but something orange caught my eye. It was wiggling in the water and I heard another scream come from it.

"Ivy! I need your help!" My grass type hurried over to where I was and looked over the edge, seeing and hearing exactly what I was. She cried out before hurled her tail and stretched it downwards as far as she could go, which surprisingly made into the water. She hooked onto whatever was down there and yanked it back up.

I watched the strange thing below us soon turn into a pokemon. I was shocked to see it was a deerling that had been saturated to the bone and was coughing up. It seemed to be an autumn born deerling from the orange color of its fur with highlights of white on the face, underbelly and legs. I was so shocked to see that its legs were bound and part of its mouth had been at one point, but the waves must have loosened it at some point.

"Damn it… we need to get these off!" I turned to my partner. "Ivy, can you get them off of her while I get a towel from my bag to dry her off and warm her up?"

"Sni." Ivy nodded, looking more peeved then normal. Of course, I could understand her frustration. I mean we just came across a poor young pokemon who was left to die. If I hadn't of heard it crying out, it would have drowned…

"Hey Piper!" The others came running back over. "What's going on?"

"Ev I need your help!" My brother was quickly by my side. He began to look over the shivering pokemon as it was released from the restraints of duct tape that I was eagerly trying to warm up by drying her, using my own body heat and friction for warmth.

Everett began to look her over. "Was she in the water? Do you know how long?"

I shook my head. "I don't, but she was in the water when I heard her crying out."

"Was she left… to die?" Bell covered her mouth as she tried to hold back a sob.

"Sick bastards…" Izzy snarled as he looked for anyone nearby. However, we were the only ones on the bridge at that time...

While Everett had a hold of her, I quickly pulled out my pokedex in order to look up what type of pokemon she was that I'd found. _Deerling, the season pokemon. The color of the season changes the color and scent of this pokemon's fur. People use it to mark the seasons. When they sense hostility, they hide in the grass. Deerling are rare and only have nests on routes six and seven._

"Landrous... What happened to you?" I looked at the little pokemon in worry before she slowly tried to curl into my warmth, her body needing it terribly.

"Deer..." The little pokemon looked up at me with eyes saturated in tears. I soon saw that the pokemon quieted down and just curled into me, not wanting to speak.

"I believe it would be best if we get moving." Izzy explained as he took a few more steps down the path of the bridge. Noisy cars raced below is as they headed either into the city or the country side. It almost made it hard to hear him. "The deerling would do better if we kept moving. Once we get to the city, Nurse Joy will take a look at her."

"That's a pretty good plan." My brother rose to his feet then. "Can you keep her warm Sis?"

I poured at him. "Of course, I can." I turned to my pokemon. "Can you carry the egg for a bit Ivy?"

"Sni." My pokemon agreed quickly and wrapped the egg super hardly in her arms, using her tail as well to hold it and kept it warm.

"I'll stay back and help you Piper." Bell volunteered and hovered nearby as I stood up with the poor pokemon in my arms.

"Thanks Bell." I cradled the pokemon gently, her head against my shoulder while her body was leaned on my developing chest.

"She's really cute though..." Bell commented as we began to walk, the boys leading for us. "Why would anyone hurt her?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea... She's too sweet..."

"It possibly was some kids who thought it would be fun to hurt her." Izzy spoke from ahead of us. He didn't look at us, but I could see from his clenched fist that this bothered him.

"Deer..." I looked down at the pokemon that sat in myself arms.

"Wait, that actually was what happened?!"

The poor pokemon then began to speak about the torment it had gone through. A group of human boys had grabbed her and tied her up from up north in Nibasa. She traveled all the way from up there down to the eastern section of the region.

I had no idea how she hadn't drowned before then.

"So, what do we do now then?" Bell questioned as we got closer to the city, our walking being steady and bringing us closer to the end of the bridge. "It would be terrible of us if we left her and those boys got back to her again..."

"Then perhaps we keep her with us?" Izzy suggested. "However, even if we helped her, I believe it will be some time before I or Everett would be able to work with her."

We all looked down to where the pokemon was in my arms and she looked nervously at the boys. She looked back over to me hopefully.

"I can see that. So, it would be between me and Bell?"

"Why don't you take her Piper?" Bell suggested. "You only have one pokemon and an egg that's yet to hatch. Having another pokemon in your team wouldn't be a bad thing. And she can decide down the line if she wants to battle or not, but she seems to be pretty cozy with you."

I looked at the pokemon again in my arms. She looked at me with wide, beady eyes that were a hazel in color.

"Well... What do you want little deerling?" The pokemon looked me in bewilderment before I felt it wiggle out of my arms, now warm and energetic. The previous ordeal, while still somewhat fresh in her mind, she was trying to move past.

"Dee!" She smiled up at me. "Deerling!"

"Well then... Autumn, welcome aboard." I leaned down to let her head as she stared at me with wide eyes. "Hey, you need a name, don't you? Your fur reminds me of the autumn leaves and their rich color, so why not compliment that?"

Her eyes glittered as she looked at me. "DEE!" She hopped up and down before turning to her new teammate, my starter. "Dee!"

"Sni!" Ivy smiled at her before handing the egg back over to me while the two played and talked. It was good to have a friend for Ivy, now she wasn't so alone or so focused on me.

"We should keep moving now," Izzy size as he began to move forward. "I believe Burgh will have his gym opened a bit longer and I would love to challenge him before the day is done."

"Iz is right." My brother agreed with the other male of our group. "It's getting a bit dark anyway, we should head out."

I shot my fist up into the air. "Alright everyone! Let's go then!"

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

The city was glowing when we arrived. The night light was before us, constantly moving and loud. Many cars still were driving around the cities while I saw hundreds of people walking in between the towering structures. We were all amazed at the sights before us.

We had taken a quick stop at the pokemon center to make sure that Autumn was okay before we began to move about the city. We were at the docks to the south at the time, watching all the lights as people were preparing for the holidays that were to come in a month.

"Well, I plan to head off toward the gym now." Izzy turned to us, giving a nod to us all. "I don't plan on waiting much longer with it being dark now, and I'd like to get this done without something incredibly lucrative happening to stop me."

"Hey Iz!" Everett hurried after our male best friend down the streets. "Wait up!"

"Everett!" Bell hurried after the two of them. "I'm coming too!"

My two pokemon and I were left in the back. Ivy and Autumn looked up at me in question before I waved them off. "Go ahead, I'll catch up."

My two pokemons' eyes lit up at the permission granted and the two of them followed the line of trainers and pokemon that hurried down the street to where we believed the gym was. I watched the two pokemon fade from sight and I smiled at their faces I'd seen before looking toward the docks.

I was standing on the edge of them, watching the waves of the water that nearly looked like an endless abyss with no lights upon the water any longer. The boats that sat at the docks provided a bit of light, but more for the air rather then the sea.

It happened so fast after that…

A strangled cry escaped me as something hit the back of my head. The world seemed to take on a black haze in my vision, coating it with a black veil. I felt my legs give out, but not once did the egg fall from my arms. Even when my body hit the ground…

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Oh wow… I wish I had gotten this out a bit more sooner, but holiday craze is something you just don't tamper with people! But I've got it done and I'm caught up! And before I forget, Happy New Year!**

 **So, anyone wanna guess what the hell Piper was hit with? Or why she was hit? Was she taken? Was it just an accident? You'll just have to wait until next time to find out!**

 **Like I said before people, please, please, please Review! I need your reviews to keep me going! It fuels me! Without them, I get backtracked and it makes it hard to continue on!**

 **Love you all and see you next week!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	10. Suffer

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 10: Suffer_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

My view was hazy as I felt myself coming to. The only thing that I noticed right off the bat as I awoke was the pounding in the back of my skull. I winced as I felt it and went to move my hand to rub the spot when I felt that I couldn't move my hands.

My eyes shot wide open then.

I looked around myself to find I was in a dark room, the lights were dim over my head, but just enough to know that I was the center piece of that room, bound to the chair. I looked around to see how I was bound. My hands had been placed behind me on the back side of the chair. The only thing free about me were my legs and my head. I could still freely move those two as well as speak.

I couldn't see any of my pokemon with me, nor my egg. My eyes widened as I looked around to any corner of the room and tried to move my chair, realizing I had been bolted to the floor. I yanked on the bines, I could feel the rope digging into my skin.

"What the hell?!" My shout got the better of me and I yanked harder on the rope, trying to get it to come free. I was surprised as well to see my bag and everything in my pocket's still on me, but not my pokemon themselves. "Ivy! Autumn! Where are you?! Where the hell are my pokemon and egg you bastards?!"

"Oh don't worry Piper, you're egg is fine." I raised my head to see the single door before me open to show the same older man in robes from yesterday and a few grunts on either side of him. One of the grunts who stood with him had my beautiful egg in their arms.

At the sight of it, I lunged.

"Give it back!" If it wasn't for the restraints and the chair bolted to the floor, I would have ended up on top of them trying to get back my egg. The older man barely blinked while the men with him flinched at my wild like state. "Give me back my egg!"

"Do not worry child, your egg will be returned to you soon enough. Our king wished to see how you had raised it and cared for it, as well as wishing for an audience with you." The older man walked around me carefully, his hand trailing on my shoulder. "Our king has taken quite the interest in you."

"That's what you said last time, but why me?" I narrowed my eyes at him as he moved around, coming to the side of me then.

"You've met our king before, you just didn't know you were facing him." The man continued on, ignoring me. "He follows you, watching you from a distance, yet, you don't know he's there. He values your love for pokemon and the kindness you treat them and anger toward other humans who harm them. He's taken a strong interest in you. In fact, he watches you even now. There is a camera in the corner of your room that watches you, and our king is on the other side."

I turned my head wildly in the direction he was pointing in and I hissed as I saw the camera moving about, zooming in and out as they looked at us. I turned back to the older man and narrowed my eyes at him.

"How long do you plan to hold me?"

"Until our king is done with you. He doesn't expect to hold you much longer then the day."

I pulled on the rope. "And how long will I be tied up?"

"That is for our own men's safety. Even without your pokemon, we don't dare to test your anger after the chase back in Striaton."

"Then give me back my egg."

"Once you have met our king, your egg will be safely returned to you."

"Hold on Mr. Gorm!" a grunt cried out from before the door. It was the one that held my egg. "She shouldn't get to have her egg back! She's a trainer!"

The man narrowed his eyes at him. "That is not our choice to make, grunt. Our king is the one who chooses. And he has chosen for her to get her egg back, besides, at the end of our plan, should she side with our king, she will have a heartful goodbye with her pokemon, and if not, then it will be taken again."

"Like hell you will!" I yanked on the binds again, testing them more and trying to get to the grunt with my egg. "I will take back my egg and you bastards will never hold them again!"

"Oh, shut up you little bitch!" The grunt snapped back. "You wouldn't know anything about what we're fighting for and you certainly wouldn't understand that letting the pokemon go would be best for it!"

"Oh really? Then why do you have pokemon to face us with?" I snarled. "If you're really all about releasing them all then why do you use them?"

"We don't _use_ them!"

"That's bullshit and you know it!"

"Grunt, don't lose your composure." Gorm told him. "Our king will be angry."

"Can I gag her or something then?" The grunt threw up one of his arms in exasperation.

"No, the king wishes her to reply freely."

"Ha!" I spat at him with a grin. "Sucks to be you eh?"

I saw the whites of his eyes glow as he was infuriated. "You… you!"

The next moments happened so fast… it still horrified me …

The grunt pulled back his arm with my egg in his hand and hurled it forward at me. My eyes widened and all I could do was use my body as shield to protect my egg from the rim of the chair of the ground. Yet, when it hit me, the sickening crack echoed in the room that made me freeze even as I held the egg between my body and legs.

I pulled my eggs back just long enough to look at my egg to see it have a large crack on the side of it that broke up the beautiful pattern on its side, my egg didn't move through and my heart leapt into my throat.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!" A strangled cry escaped me as I held my egg to me. "YOU BASTARD!"

"What have you done?!" The older man took it upon himself to hit the grunt while I wailed. "You had one simple job you imbecil!"

"B-but sir-"

"GET OUT!" I screeched.

"You heard her," the older man said. "Get out."

"Sir… what about the egg? Shouldn't we get some help for it?" another grunt questioned the older man as they looked at my sobbing figure.

"Don't bother. Leave the girl to grieve… that egg won't be hatching…"

They all left shortly after that, leaving me and my loud sobbing to echo off the dark walls. It felt so much more painful and haunting after they left, as if I could feel the baby's spirit haunting me…

I sobbed as I held the egg close to me, praying somehow that it was still alive…

 **Everett's Point of View:**

We chased Iz all over the city trying to find where the pokemon gym was. Not used to how large the city was, we ended up in many circles trying to find him. We just kept moving, it was all we could do.

Finally, it seemed that luck was on our side When we passed the area a few times, we made it to the gym that we were looking for. Iz must have found a map of the city that he was able to use while we were running all over the city.

"Did we finally make it?" Bell panted as she attempted to keep up. She wasn't used to so much physical exercise. Normally her clothes prevented her from moving much and I would have ended up carrying her, yet when she had gotten new clothes, she didn't want me to do that, allowing her do things she hadn't done much before.

"I see it up ahead you guys!" I pointed to the space that was just ahead of us by a few hundred yards and I could see the man, Burgh, as well as Iz standing at the entrance. I could see them shaking hands before they seemed to notice us approaching them.

"Hello! Sorry about this you guys, but with it being so late, I plan to close the gym down until tomorrow. Isadore just made it in tie for the last bit of time I had." His smile vanished however when he looked past us. "Please pardon my rudeness, but where is Piper?"

"She's right behind us-" It was then that I turned to look and I also noticed my sister wasn't there. My eyes widened as I looked at the empty space where she should have been, but only saw her two pokemon as they looked around wildly for her too. "Piper?!"

No cry or sound came to my ears other than the blaring noises of the city as cars and people continued to move around us. I looked around wildly in the area for my sister, but no sigh of her appeared to me.

"When was the last time you saw her?" Iz demanded, taking a step closer.

"The entrance to the city!" Bell gasped as she looked back at me. "Remember? She was taking a moment to look at the docks?"

"Right!" I quickly pulled out my xtransceiver and called her number. I heard it ring one, two, three times before the answering machine picked up instead of her, telling us Piper was either out of range of signal or turned off. "What the hell?"

"Do you think something bad happened to her?" Bell questioned worriedly.

"I'll help you search for her," Burgh offered. "The girl did quite a bit for Lenora, least I can do is pay back the favor."

"Thank you Burgh," Izzy nodded his head to him. "Now let's head back to the docks and see if any clues are there for us to find."

We all hurried off there and then to go and find my sister, praying that she was okay.

 **Piper's Point of View:**

The sobbing was endless… I just couldn't stop crying as I used whatever of my body was free to hold the broken egg to me. It hadn't moved since it had been thrown. It was nowhere near as warm as it had been before. Only my body heat kept it anywhere near what warmth the egg used to give off.

It was dead… I'd failed to save it…

Th fallen egg had continued to crack and break way while I held it. I was so lost in the feeling that it might be still alive that I wouldn't let the pieces' fall. Some of them scattered around me regardless… I couldn't keep all of them in place with only my thighs holding the egg close to me.

Another piece would fall, and I'd sob harder as I knew the poor pokemon never even had a chance to have a life, killed before it had even hatched. I could only hope that the elderly man who was with me and that damn king would do something as revenge toward the grunt. I was so infuriated… my body felt like it was on fire, my tears like lava on my skin.

I gasped as a strange sensation overcame me. Something soft had brushed my stomach where my shirt had ridden up from myself being hunched over. Another sob escaped as it made me think of the partly formed body of the baby that was probably being exposed in my lap right now. The dead creature that I would soon see and be mortified with…

 _I don't want to see it… just let me avoid that sight of a dead baby…_

"Coo…" My eyes shot open when I heard the sound. As much as it feared me, I dared to look down into my lap.

A pokemon was there, bright blue eyes looked up at me and blinked in confusion at my tears. Soft silky like fur was all over its body. Five dark red feelers were around it, three on its head while two were at its sides. Two small little black arms poked out of its fur, touching my skin, while a small cocoon like tail that was brown in color stuck out of the back side of it.

The baby was alive!

"Oh my Landorus!" I squealed. "You're alive! You're alive! You're alive!"

"Coo?" The pokemon looked cutely up at me from where it sat in my lap, the pieces of its egg shell falling to the floor. It had hatched…

My sobs quickly turned from anguish to relief as I placed my forehead against the soft fur of the pokemon. I could feel it hum in confusion against me, but I was just so happy that I couldn't say anything.

"I'm so glad you're alright." I pulled back and gave the pokemon a bit of room. I set down my legs slowly so that the pokemon could sit on my lap. "I'm Piper, you're mommy."

The little pokemon smiled up at me, moving its arms and feelers to understand me more as it sat on me. I wanted to hug it so badly, but pulling on the restraints reminded me of what position I was in.

"Hey little one, can you help your mommy out?" The little pokemon pulled back to look at me. "Mommy's a bit stuck here to this chair, can you bite through the rope maybe or break it?"

The little pokemon looked at me in confusion before I watched it climb over my shoulder to look down the back of the chair. I saw it stop on the top of it before I felt something soft on my hands.

"That's it! Right where you are. Mommy's wiggling her hands right now, see?" I moved my hands to show the little one. "And the brown stuff it hurting Mommy. Can you get it off?"

The next thing I felt was a sharp heat and I screamed before I leapt up, somehow getting to my feet. My hands were with me and I was free, but I quickly looked a them and saw the burns on my wrists.

 _This pokemon was a fire type?_ My baby pokemon was still on the back of the chair where I had been moments ago and had turned around to look at me in question.

"Good job!" I clapped my hands and picked up the pokemon in my arms, petting it. "Mommy's very proud of you!"

"Coo!" The pokemon cheered from my arms and its fur and feelers brushed against my skin, tickling me.

"Now let's see what you are." I was able to reach into my pocket and pull out my pokedex. I was surprised to see that none of my items were taken off of me. I guess that they really did just want to see me before releasing me…

 _Larvesta, the torch pokemon. Said to have been born from the sun, it spews fire from tis horns and encases itself in a cocoon of fire when it evolves. The base of volcanoes is where they make their homes. There are no known larvesta nests in this region._

 _Her feelers were actually horns?_ Sure enough, when I went to feel them once more, they were much harder this time. It most likely took them a few moments to harder after hatching from the egg.

The pokedex had pointed out to me that she was both a fire and bug type pokemon, as well as a female pokemon. I was pleased to see that she seemed well and healthy, so I had done a good job caring for her.

"Alright Lava, let's get out of here." The little pokemon cooed in my arms. "Lava is your name silly. Don't you like it?"

"Coo!" The pokemon smiled back up at me before we both turned to look back at the door before us.

I calmly walked up to it to inspect how we would get out when the door opened wide. I blinked in shock before I took a look out, seeing no one there, and stepped out with Lava safely in my arms.

"Let's get out of here. I got a bone to pick with a grunt."

Lava cooed at what I had said while I dared to move down the hallway, now armed with a pokemon I could use to help escape. It wouldn't be long before they knew I had left.

 **Unknown Point of View:**

He sat there with his hand over the button, watching young Piper Theron and her baby larvesta escape their clutches. He smiled, thanking Landorus above that the baby pokemon his subordinate had thrown was truly alive and not dead.

"Sir… I'm so sorry-"

"Enough." The man silenced the grunt before him who had committed the sin. "I've released the girl now after what you've done. I've seen what I was looking for, and I will speak with her some other time. This will not be the last time she and I meet."

The grunt lowered his head. "Yes, my king."

He turned back to look at the girl who travelled through the now barren hallways. He watched her move toward the exit where he knew her friends and family were. Piper Theron was an interesting girl, and perhaps now it would be best for him to leave her be for a while so that she can recover from the terror of the day.

 **Everett's Point of View:**

It took us little time to make our way over to where the docks had been where we last saw my sister. She had been near there looking out over the water the last I'd seen. I actually was surprised when she didn't follow after us directly, but it made sense now that with her possibly missing.

 _Please be okay… please be just fine…_

When the first boat came into sight, it was Iz who took the lead that brought us back to where had first started. We could see the walking entrance to Skyarrow Bridge and the docks that were on the southernmost point of the city. The sun was no longer in the sky. It had been a few hours since sunset.

"Over here!" Bell cried out from a spot she was looking at. We hurried over to her and quickly saw what she had found. It was Piper's xtransceiver, which had been nearly kicked over the edge of the railing into the water below. "She was here! This is why we couldn't reach her.

"There's no way she would have left it so easily," Iz said as he looked around the area. "She must have been taken."

"Taken?!" I snarled. "Whoever dared lay a fucken hand on my sister…"

"I'd say boys and girls, let's ask that little grunt over there." Burgh pointed to the docks were a Team Plasma grunt was wandering about. As soon as he noticed that we were watching him, he screamed and took off.

"You piece of shit!" The others could hardly say anything as I took off after the grunt. "Bring my back my sister, you asshole! Be so fucken thankful it's me and nor my fucken father out here or your ass would be made into mincemeat right now for his damn garden!"

"Everett! Wait up!" The others were running after me from behind, but I couldn't be bothered to stop as we approached. Only Iz seemed to be keeping pace with me, and he wasn't a runner. Iz wasn't good at sports or things of the like, but when Piper was involved, oh boy didn't that rile both of us up.

I wasn't normally like this. I was normally pretty chill of a guy. I was more laid back, things would work out the way they were supposed to. But when it came to my family and close friends… I just lose it and turn into a mini version of my father, beating the crap out of anything that came my way.

The grunt ran ahead of us for a few minutes only before he dived into some building. I charged in after him before we managed to find the sole grunt who now stood tall with his buddies and an older man who looked me right in the eye while pacing lightly, as if thinking.

"It seems that we have been found sooner than planned," the older man said, grumbling as he rubbed his facial hair. "No matter, we planned to leave soon anyway. Our business with the young girl is complete. Our king has gathered what he needed and we shall be on our way."

"Young girl?" Burgh questioned. "You wouldn't happen to be speaking of Piper Theron?"

"She is fine before you ask. No harm has come to her, other than…" the older man cut off and lowered his head.

"Other then what, you asshole?!" I stormed up to him, throwing caution to the wind while Ruff puffed on my shoulder, screeching as we came close, most of the grunts covering their ears. The older man stood tall while he grunts backed away. "What the hell did you do?!"

A scream came out from behind him and we all looked to see what had happened. A lone grunt at the back was running past us all that seemed to be burn and his uniform ruined.

"Sir!" The grunt shouted. "The girl got out! Her pokemon egg is alive and hatched! Its burning the building down!"

"Everyone retreat!" The leader their shouted and the grunts quickly escaped just as flames burst through the door behind them. From it appeared my twin.

She looked terrible. I could see where they had hit her over the head with a bat or some sort of blunt object to knock her out. Blood seemed down the side of her head from the hit and her hair was messy, somehow still in the hat and pulled back. In her arms she carried a small pokemon that was white and red with bright blue eyes that was causing the place to blaze from the fire that came from its mouth.

"Piper!" She lifted her gaze to Iz who calmly approached her, Ivy and Autumn joining him to help calm her. "Piper… what's happened to you?"

And that's when something broke. She sobbed and the pokemon in her arms seemed to calm, watching it's human mother cry. Piper slowly moved toward Iz and collapsed in his arms, using his shoulder to cry on. He quickly held her close.

Piper never lost control like that. Piper was stronger than anyone I knew. I knew it had to be terrible to see her in such a state…

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Okay, wow… that chapter tuned out more emotional then I thought it would, but that's good! I hope you guys don't want to kill me too badly for the fact that I nearly killed off the baby pokemon in the beginning… But I had to happen to ive some more softness and break Piper…**

 **Also you guys, I wanted to add that I'm sorry this didn't come out on Saturday. I thought I had posted it and was surprised to find out that nothing had been posted. Yikes… So sorry you guys! Don't hate me!**

 **So like always! Tell me what you guys think of the chapter and please Review and Send in Questions! We're already at chapter ten and we only have another twenty-two chapters left and the Q's and A's page!**

 **Love you all and see you next week! (Hopefully on time, next time!)**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	11. See It Coming

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 11: See it Coming?_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

It had been three days since I had been kidnapped and since I had last seen Izzy.

He seemingly had vanished once we had all gotten to the pokemon center, Burgh leading the way to it. He was concerned about us getting attacked again and took the necessary precautions to get us to the building safely. However, after that point, Izzy disappeared. I wasn't sure why or how he managed to do such a feature as he had a team of young, rambunctious pokemon, but he was.

Since that time frame, Everett stuck to me like sludge on a muk. I couldn't shake him no matter how I tried. I knew he was worried for me, and it's not like I didn't appreciate it or was trying to get rid of him, but I was stressed, I needed some space, and he wasn't exactly giving that to me then.

It took a long talking with our father in order to set things straight. Our father could be ruthless and demanding, but we always had come first. As soon as he heard what happened, if it wasn't for the town officials and our other siblings, he was going to burn down the entire city, destroying anything that got in his way trying to get to me. Nick and Nikki had been helpful in stopping him from doing that, but that still didn't mean he wasn't pissed.

Dad had been worried sick when he heard what happened. What father wouldn't if his teenage daughter had been kidnapped, beaten, and traumatized? My father had talked to me every night after that, making sure I was okay and asking how everything had gone. Talking to him had helped, but I didn't need to tell him a lot about how Izzy missing made me feel pretty upset. Dad told me to give him time, he was probably upset with himself for not finding me sooner… With the way that Izzy and I worked, it was believable at the time, but I still couldn't help but feel bad.

" _Dad's sleeping still right now Piper,_ " Nikki told me while her and Nick were on the other side of the phone, talking to me in the pokemon center. " _He's been pretty mad these last few days, but he's starting to calm down now._ "

"I know… I feel so bad for making him worry…"

" _Well it's not like you could have stopped it,_ " Nick argued over the line. " _Those guys jumped you, right? There was no way you could have known, and at least Lava's okay. Right?_ "

I looked down to the baby pokemon that was sleeping in my lap. Her fur tickled my legs, but I tried my hardest not to move her in order to let her sleep longer. She was a baby after all, and for that reason alone, and only hatching a mere three days prior to this conversation with my siblings, she wasn't going to be put into battle as of yet.

"And I know that, I just wish I could have, you know?"

" _We're not saying otherwise,_ " Nikki noted, " _but you can't keep beating yourself up over it. It's done Piper, you're safe now and so is Lava. Maybe you should go battle the gym leader today to let out some of your pent-up energy?_ "

I sighed. "You guys are right, for once." I smiled at them through the screen. "I'll do just that… maybe I can even find Izzy? It's not like I've been searching for him."

" _Izzy will come back, he always comes back to_ _ **you**_ _Piper._ " I raised an eye brow at the twins' comment while they both snickered at me. They laughed as they had said the words at the same time, something more acute to them then to myself and Everett, who spoke more on unspoken terms.

"You two are acting weird…." I sighed. "Look, I'm going to go get ready, let Dad know I'm doing okay and trying to move forward. I'll give him a call tonight, because if things go well and I catch up with the others, we'll be heading out in the next few days, maybe even tomorrow."

The twins I called my younger siblings waved to me before the connection was cut and I slumped in my chair. I rubbed my face with my fingers, trying to push away the exhaustion with sheer force.

"Those two could run the world with their boundless energy…"

"Coo?" I looked down into my lap to see Lava moving about. She seemed pretty happy for some reason as she tried to crawl up my stomach, sliding back down when I was too vertical. "Coo!"

"Good morning Lava, did I wake you?" She didn't quite seem to understand my question, so I shrugged it off while I stood. "Never mind, Mommy needs to get cleaned up and dressed and then we're gonna go get our gym badge with your big sisters. Now can you be a good little one and wait for Mommy?"

The little head on the pokemon tilted at me in confusion. I smiled and patted her on the head.

"Wait for me with your siblings on the bed, stay with your sisters, okay?"

The pokemon still was confused, but obeyed none the less. She sat on the bed where Autumn and Ivy rested, only starting to stir as the day began. Bell had already gotten up to feed some of her pokemon and herself. Everett was the only one I wasn't sure of, but I'm sure he wasn't too far away. He had stuck pretty close after I'd escaped Team Plasma.

I started the shower up and stripped myself of my clothes, throwing them into the washer and dryer next to me in the bathroom. I stepped under the water to wash up, but once I stood there, my mind began to wander.

Team Plasma had once again thrown me for a loop, and once a cause that I wouldn't have normally felt so much hatred for, yet after all they had done to others, I had little to no reason to feel anything but hostile to them. They'd stolen pokemon, hurt other human beings, both emotionally and physically, and were entirely the opposite of the cause they were fighting for. They infuriated me at the thought and the reminder. What I wasn't clear about before, I was now. Team Plasma was a no good group that fought for good intentions. They were no one that I would hear out anymore, they'd done to much to scar me.

I'd almost lost Lava because of them.

I shook my head and quickly hurried to get myself clean and stepped out of the shower to get ready. With it getting colder now, the brisk air was something I no longer could ignore. I had to change into long jeans to protect my legs as well as a long sleeved white shirt over the top half of me. I then had a jacket that I placed on of a red color over my shirt to keep me warm. This would hold me over until it warmed up, which I could only assume to be later in spring then not.

"Piper?" I heard a knocking on the door and turned up my head. It was Bell that I heard from the other side. "Are you all done in there?"

"I'll be out in a minute!" I quickly pulled on a set of socks to add to my feet before I opened the door to my room that I shared with the other girl of my group. Bell smiled over at me once she saw me dressed.

"Oh, you look wonderful! I'm so glad to see you up and moving!"

"Thanks Bell, it feels good, but I'm glad I took a few days just to… come to terms with things."

Bell's mood changed and she looked to the floor. "Piper… we're still so sorry about that… if we had known any sooner… if we'd stayed with you…"

"Then maybe you would have been grabbed with me, I have no idea how many of them there were when they grabbed me." I sighed. "But it's in the past Bell, we need to move past it and get going. I need to get my gym badge and we need to continue on with our journey, if we do that, it will be easier to move past this. At least… that's what I believe."

"Okay…" Bell let out a breath and looked back up at me with a new passion in her eyes. "So, when do you want to take off for the gym? After breakfast? Now? Everett's still asleep. Trample keep him and Ruff up for a good portion of the night wanting to train and play."

"Probably now, I love my brother dearly, but I'll leave him a note or something. I need some fresh air, and I could do it without him fussing over me. I need to get back into the game, and I can't do it if he asks me if I'm okay every five seconds and causing me to remember."

"I can stay here and tell him if you'd like." Bell offered. "My pokemon are still eating anyway and I don't want them to get tummy aches if they all start running around the city." Bell looked over to my pokemon that were waking up on the bed. "You're pokemon, with the exception of Lava, ate earlier and then came back to bed, craving food earlier this morning."

I nodded. "That sounds good. I can eat something on the way, but I'll feed Lava as we walk." I picked her up and her siblings feel in line beside me. "Thanks Bell!"

She waved at me as I ran out the door. After that, I was quick to get a bottle for Lava to feed her and get extra for later today when I fed her again.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

Before our gym battle, I decided to take a walk around the city, just roaming about and taking the time to clean my head, letting what few thoughts passed through it vanish on the wind. Autumn and Ivy hung close to me, preventing people from getting too close to myself and their baby sister who sat in my arms. It was more when the hours of the morning had been at rush hour, everyone getting to work, that things were more hectic. Once the other humans and pokemon had made it to where they wanted or needed to be, things settled down and only a good handful of people we'd see on the occasion.

I'd stopped at a café on our way to the gym in a little alley of sorts on the other side of town. It was a cute little shop, could barely hold more than twenty people, but it was soothing and calm, something I needed.

Lava was a hungry little baby all morning. Every hour, on the hour, was feeding time. To prevent us from stopping, my pokmeon helped me by holding my things while I fed her and continued to walk. Lava hardly minded the movement as she ate, so long as she was fed. She enjoyed her milk bottles, but even after being only a few days old seemed to be looking for other food to have and eat.

Once my head felt much more clear, I arrived at the bug type gym. With the exception of my baby (who was _not_ fighting) I was at a disadvantage at this gym. Grass types normally fell to bug, so I had to teach my pokemon some other moves in their time off in order to help make up for what they would lack. Burgh would have the advantage, and I would struggle.

I entered the building, realizing it was actually an art gallery. I had forgotten for a moment that Burgh was an artist. He often presented his work out to trainers to show how he struggled from his beginning pieces to his work current of today that he kept on hand. I knew many people would pay big money to not only see his work, but also to have a chance at owning it. He was quite popular in the city.

I was surprised to hear a battle taking place when I stepped into the back of the building where Burgh had told us to come when we were ready to face him. My eyes widened further when I saw it was Izzy who seemed to be facing him in a match. I pulled back a bit with my pokemon to watch.

Izzy's back was to me, but that didn't mean I couldn't see the sweat that dripped from his face, the anger swelling in his body as he tried to find a release battling with Burgh. The older man watched him simply with cool eyes, which was strange compared to his much warmer personality. I saw his eyes drift to me for only a moment, shining a bit brighter at the sight of me, but returned to his original look as to not alert Izzy.

Burgh clapped his hands. "I believe that enough for one afternoon Isadore, come now, give you pokemon a break. You've been at this for the last three days."

I blinked. _This is where he was all this time?_

"I realized that Burgh, but I need to be stronger…" I watched my childhood best friend clench his fists together. "I need to be more attentive."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have left your friends in the first place." Burgh shook his head at the other male human. "They all seemed quite upset at your departure, can you not face them now?"

Izzy paused for a moment before answering him. "If I wasn't so adamant on battling you and paid more attention to them, Piper wouldn't have ended up in the mess she had. I should have been with her. Some 'friend' I am…"

"Quite the contrary, I think you're an excellent friend to them." Burgh slowly approached him before standing by the young man I was close to. "What Piper was taken for, none of us really know besides her. It could have been a simple reasoning, or she could have been targeted specifically. We don't know that. But the second you knew something was wrong, you were there for her. We can't always be there for one another, ultimately, life will always throw us a on a curved path." He placed a hand on Izzy's shoulder. "And it's what we make of it that proves who we really are. And Piper knows you're a better person then what you believe, don't you Piper?"

My eyes widened as my cover was then blown. Izzy whipped around his head to look at me and the two of us were frozen as we looked at one another. I could feel Lava moving in my arms, whining at my stillness. Izzy was no different, Burgh could not move him from his spot until he elbowed him.

Then Izzy looked away, to glare at the man he'd shared so much with. I was finally able to blink and breath. The two of us looked at one another again and our eyes were softer that time.

"Piper…" It was all that could come out of his mouth. He continued to look at me before turning his head away.

"It's okay Izzy." I chuckled lightly. "I'm not mad, more…confused then anything."

"It was just… I couldn't feel like I could face you after leaving you all alone like that."

"And I should have probably been with the others, but that's in the past Izzy. We can't change it, only the future." I walked up to him and gave him a small grin. "Now chin up and act like my asshole of a best friend again, emotional stuff really isn't our forte."

A small smile finally came to his face and I felt him hug me. "Thank you Piper."

"Hey," I lightly punched his shoulder. "There was nothing to forgive, but for bailing out on us, except a serious prank coming your way."

He snorted. "I expected something to happen, and much worse, so that isn't too terrible sounding to be honest." He stepped out of the way. "Now go battle him, I know we have a lot of ground to cover after spending so much time here."

"You got it!" I stepped around him to see Burgh standing there with a smile.

"So, do I finally get to face the famous Piper Theron?" Burgh snickered. "I'm filled with excitement!"

"You should be Burgh!" I grinned as I took my place in my own battle box on the other side of the field. "I'm not going to go down easy, even if you are a bug type user and have the advantage over me!"

"Good, so let's go then Whirlipede!"

I watched as the first bug type was quick to emerge from Burgh's pokeball. It was purple in color, with feelers all over its body and an eye sticking out of the center, most likely from inside the cocoon it was in after evolving and preparing for its next evolution.

 _It's what Trample evolved into…_ I'd seen this pokemon just once before, my brothers bug pokemon had evolved during the last gym battle he was in, which was also against Burgh. I'd never had the chance to get the data on it, and I should have to have prepared me for some of the types I would have faced.

I pulled out my pokedex then to research it. _Whirlipede, the curlipede pokemon and the evolved form of venipede. Protected by a hard shell, it spins its body like a wheel and crashes furiously into enemies. Whirlipede nests are rare and are only found occasionally in Pinwheel Forest._

 _Yikes…_ it was both a bug and poison type, it had the total advantage against my two battling pokemon. While Lava would have had the entire advantage over it and in a few months' time would have been able to just blast them all away, she was hardly three days old at the time. I would be on my own for this, but this was just like my last gym battle, type advantage over me.

 _It was a good thing a took a good portion of the day before to train with my two grass types and teach them some new moves…_

"Let's go Ivy!" My servine came from her pokeball next and appeared on the battlefield. She narrowed her eyes at the grass type and the pokemon across the way copied her actions.

I was going to do my best and focus on using Ivy more the Autumn just yet, still trying to help her get over her fears. Maybe the next gym match I would use her for, depending of course.

"Ser…" Ivy hissed out as she saw her opponent. We would have to be careful with that match. It might have been just like the one we faced with Chili, the type advantage over us, but this wasn't a one on one, if I remembered correctly, Burg had three pokemon at his disposal.

It would be a challenge facing him.

"I don't plan for you to make your move first Piper, so I shall go first!" Burgh surprised me as he began the battle. "Use poison tail!"

The whirlipede, to my surprise, sped forward by rolling on its outer cocoon spine to race around the field. Half of its body became encased in a purple glow as it approached Ivy.

I hissed at the situation. "Jump back and push it away with leaf tornado!"

Ivy instantly was into the air and cried out before twirling and letting the leaves come and strong winds blow in the direction of the whirlipede. I slowed as the tornado hit it before being sucked up into it and hurled in the air, unable to move anywhere.

"Whilipede!" Burgh shouted as he looked above.

"Hurry and take it out with aerial ace!" Ivy landed quickly before jumping up into the air with a sky-blue color coating her body as she raced to hi the bug pokemon. She hit it right on the mark, where the little eye of its was showing at its weakest spot and break in its shell. The pokemon screamed as it was hurled into a corner and landed, Burgh only given a second to look before the dust of the dirt in the air covered its body.

We both watched in anticipation as the flying sediment began to settle. Grueling, long moments passed before we saw the pokemon appear in the ground, half covered in gravel and sand. Its single eye was swirling, showing it was knocked out from the hit.

"Nice Ivy!" I cheered on my pokemon as she slithered around the field.

"Ser!" Ivy chuckled as she watched Burgh from our side of the field while he returned his pokemon and then pulled out another pokeball.

"It seems that you've been working on moves to handle bug types." He smiled. "I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised in the time frame you've been away from battling. But I still have more pokemon to face you with, so let's go Dwebble!"

I was surprised to see a much smaller pokemon appear for the second round of our match. It was a small little crab like pokemon with a rock shaped shell on its back. Its orange color of its body stood out against the simple tones of the rock on its back, which probably was used to hide itself from predators.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex in order to get any information on it I could. _Dwebble, the rock inn pokemon. This pokemon can easily melt holes in hard rocks with a liquid secreted from its mouth. If that rock breaks, the pokemon remains agitated until it locates a replacement. Dwebble nets are somewhat common only on route eighteen and within the Desert Resort._

 _So, it's a rock and bug type… grass won't be super effective, but at least it will do some damage… but flying type won't do much else either. I don't think any of the pokemon I had on had then would have been able to have the advantage._

"At least it means were more on even ground…" A sigh escaped me as I watched the pokemon sitting out on the field, waiting for an order. "Well, let's get going then!" I threw out an arm. "Use leaf tornado Ivy!"

"Ser!" My grass type leaned forward before spinning and hurling the attack toward the opposing pokemon.

"Use smack down Dwebble!" The rock and bug type somehow was able to hurl itself into the air and hover for a moment as the tornado hit it, but it still fell and slammed it's body into my pokemon. I y screamed out as she was hit and hurled into the ground, crushed by the weight of the rock type.

"Ivy!" I gasped as I saw her body there in the hole in the ground. She flinched as she tried to move, but she was able to get to her feet.

Across the field, I saw that the dwebble wasn't fairing much better. My previous attack upon it had damaged it beyond what it would handle and the only thing that had kept it going was the gravity as it had crashed into Ivy.

Burgh cursed as he looked at his pokemon wobble for a moment before it fell to the ground, knocked out. It couldn't handle the hit and was down for the count.

But Ivy wasn't much better...

"It seems you have proven quite the challenge." Burgh hummed as he took in the situation. "I'm down to my last pokemon here and you still have one more, but can or will it fight?"

I dared to look down at the other pokeball in my hands. Autumn I'd only gotten a few days ago and she was still somewhat fearful. Could I let or make her fight? I didn't have the heart in me to do that if that was the case.I narrowed my eyes at him. "I guess I need to pray I don't come to that."

Burgh nodded slowly to me. "Yes, I suppose that would be the case. It lets see how you face my final pokemon, let's go Levanny!"

I was surprised to see a taller pokemon appear that held a somewhat human shape.

Reminding me of a mother with its smooth looking body made up of leaves. Its eyes were a soft color while it's face a bright attractive yellow and dark green leaves covering its body like clothes.

 _I quickly pulled out my pokedex. Levanny, the nurturing pokemon and the evolved form of swadloon. Upon finding a small pokemon, it weaves clothing for it from leaves, using g the cutters. On its amra and sticky silk. Levanny nests are rare and are only found on route six or in the Lostlorn Forest._

 _Great... It's a grass and bug type._ I was thankful that it was a pokemon I'd actually be as to handle, yet I was worried with Ivy's extreme wound from the last battle.

"Coo!" I was surprised when Lava wiggled her way out of my arms and landed onto the battlefield, crawling out on her own to stand next to her older sister.

"Lava!" I gasped and ran out on to the field. "No Lava! You can't fight! You're just a baby! Come back to Mommy!"

"Your fire type wishes to fight?" Burgh blinked at the pokemon. "Would you like me to give her a bit of a taste of a battle? I'll take it easy on her."

I blinked at him. "But aren't we in the middle of a gym battle?"

"Oh I don't mind if you don't!" Burgh waved it off. "We can return to the battle right afterwards."

"If you say so..." I looked behind me to where Izzy stood and watch and he could only shrug his shoulders at me. I turned back to my grass type on the field. "Ivy! Come take a quick break!"

My grass type starter moved out of the way and back to my side. We worried watched out onto the field while Lava seemed to be happy to be out there.

"Coo!" Lava moved about the horns on her head in glee.

"Alright little one, were going to send you a razor leaf attack your way." Burgh told my baby pokemon on the field. "I hope your ready little one!"

"Be careful, Lava!" I called out worriedly.

"Let's go Levanny! Use a small razor leaf on the pokemon!"

The levanny then moved its arms forward and threw out a single leaf at my pokemon.

The leaf hit the horns on my larvesta and she cried out in surprise. She screeched after that and tears flew down her face.

"Lava!" I was going to go out there and comfort her. I was going to pull her into my arms and tell her it would be alright.

But I never got the chance...

Lava screamed as soon as she was hit and her body became ablaze. Burgh flinch when he felt the heat coming from her and a powerful fire attack came from her mouth, looking much like a fire blast attack. The levanny gasped as the powerful white blaze covered her entirely.

"Levanny!" Burgh cried out in horror as he ran toward his pokemon, hoping back quickly when the fire came close to him.

"Lava, enough!" My fire type cut off her attack and looked back over at me with tear filled eyes. I picked her up and held her while worriedly looking to the other side of the field. "Is Levanny okay?"

"Yes, she's just knocked out from the heat." Burgh side as the fire dimmed down on his pokemon's body. "I will tell you this, I will never underestimate a baby pokemon again..."

"Did you want me to have a rematch?" The gym leader looked up at me strangely. "I mean... You took it easy on my baby and she did this... That doesn't feel like it should have been."

"As far as I'm concerned, I'd say it was a win in your favor." Burgh smiled at me. "I would just work on training that larvesta of yours. She's a bit unpredictable. But she'll be a fighter when shes ready."

I was surprised when the gym leader walked over to me and handed me a badge that reminded me much of an insect wing. It was good in outline and green inside. It was beautiful...

"This is not a handout just so you know Piper, your pokemon earned that and I should have been more careful of your baby pokemon, especially with it being a fire type." He pointed to the badge. "That's called the insect badge. With this badge, you only five more left to get." He grinned and rubbed the top of my head affectionately, even if my hat prevented him from messing it up too much. "I'll let Elsa know that you're on your way with the others. I'm sure she'll be excited to face you."

I held the badge close to me and let out a sigh. "Thank you Burgh…now I can keep moving forward and get stronger."

"The desert to the north will be a good place to train, many ground and rock type pokemon spend their days in the sand." The gym leader of the city turned from me. "Now get going, you should spend some time with you friends. Their all hanging in the door way for you."

I blinked and turned my head to where I knew Izzy was. Bell and Everett were now there and waving madly to me as they waited for me to join them.

"Nice job Sis!" Everett waved at me before pouting. "But I'm still pissed at you."

"Sorry Ev, but I needed to get out and take care of this." I nervously smiled at him and approached them. "Forgive me?"

He looked at me for another moment longer before sighting. "I guess I can, it's not like I can be pissed at you for long."

"I can't believe Lava was that cool!" Bell gushed over the baby pokemon in my arms while Ivy limped at myside and Autumn hid in her ball for the time being. "I guess we'll be training her a bit sooner then you thought?"

"Oh hell yeah…" I groaned. "But let's get going, I feel like we've been in this city for way too long. I need to heal up my pokemon and then we're out of here."

"I'll led the way out then." Izzy then took a few steps before us back to the exit of the gym where we saw a flash of purple and something fell over him. I saw him lift his hunched figure from where it braced the hit and saw the berries all around him and upon his jacket. He could only sigh. "I suppose this would be my so called revenge prank?"

I snickered at him. "Of course!"

 _It also helped that I'd texted Everett just before my battle…_

Izzy rolled his eyes. "I'll begin our little march then, I need to get cleaned up and I believe it's time for us to move on. I'm more then eager to see this new area and see what pokemon and items it will entail for us."

"Don't forget to own the berries!" My brother laughed as Izzy moved out then, a giggling Bell right behind him and Everett right after that, but before any of them left the building, they stopped that time and looked back to wait for me. I returned Ivy to her pokeball and hurried to stay with them, not planning on being separated that time.

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Okay, holy crap…. I can't believe I finally got that chapter done… I'm so sorry for the late update everyone and I know I've been missing for quite a while. I'm not mad or anything, but a lot of things fell on top of me that had to be addressed.**

 **1\. Writer's Block for this story**

 **2\. Mad writing for another story**

 **3\. Busy life with family and work**

 **4\. Anniversary of my father's death**

 **So basically, a lot of stuff happened that I couldn't stop or control. Dad's death was back of the second of this month, so we had a lot of time just getting over the first-year stuff. It still doesn't feel like he's gone guys… and then I got stuck with writing block… I got through the first half no problem, but when I hit the second, crap… I've been putting out chapters like mad for the future story I'm working on, but that's not this one, so it's amazing yet maddening, and work has been beyond crazy that when I come home, I have to be in a SUPER mood for typing or else I can't do it.**

 **So anyway, that's my long list of excuses to let you know what's been going on in the last month or so, but I'm hoping now to get back in the swing of things, catch up on the chapter's I'm missing, and then get back to my weekly schedule, so I owe you guys another… three chapters, not including chapter fifteen that should be do this Saturday, so I guess I better get back to the moon now that it's coming back!**

 **So hopefully I can crank one out of me soon and get it posted for you guys! Bear with me as I get things taken care of! I'm still so sorry about all of this and please Review and Send in Questions!**

 **Also pardon any mistakes, I got no beta and half of this I did on my phone at breaks in work…**

 **Love you all and see you soon!**

 **Halloween Witch**


	12. Sandstorm Stories

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 12: Sandstorm Stories_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

It was strange to have a desert in the middle of our region. It confounded many people with the way the mountains around this location brought about such conditions, yet the sands in route four just kept moving.

Our group decided that after we left Castelia that we should spend some good time on the route to the north and do some training with the many unique types of pokemon there. I had agreed easily at the time. Ivy had a lot of trouble in the last gym and needed some more training for the next, as well as to repair her pride. Autumn wanted to get a boost in her confidence, and she thought training would do the trick. And with Lava… after what happened in the last gym, baby or no, I had to train her, regardless of how I felt.

But that didn't mean I still held onto her like the little baby she was…

The weather on the route hardly changed, windy and sandy. The only variable that changed as we moved on was whether it was cold or hot. We found out that the desert didn't absorb and retain the sun's heat, so in the day time it was hot as hell, but at night it was frigid as ice. Thankfully we already were wearing our winter clothing, so traveling at night when the winds were a bit more quiet and warmer wasn't an issue.

While we were on the route, we managed to find an incredible amount of pokemon to battle and register into the pokedex. We figured that professor Juniper would be quite pleased when she next saw us to download what we had gathered for her.

The first one we had seen had been a fire type to our surprise, it was small and round, with large black eyes and a cute little grin. Small yellow spots were on its head and chest while it would dance around in the sand. _Daruaka, the zen charm pokemon. When its internal fire is burning, it cannot calm down and its runs around. When the fire diminishes, it falls asleep. Darumaka's droppings are hot, so people used to put them in their clothes to keep themselves warm. Darumaka nests are rare and are only found on route four._

The next pokemon we saw was a bit more… blending it. With a bright yellow coat over its skin and only small patches of white and yellow upon it, it reminded me of a sour child who didn't get its way with its hands always on its hips as it strolled around. Black eyes narrowed at the landscape and any trainers it came across, but when wide when beaten and ran away. _Scraggy, the shedding pokemon. Its skin has a rubbery elasticity, so it can reduce damage by defensively pulling its skin up to its neck. It immediately headbutts anyone that makes eye contact with it. Its skull is massively thick. Scraggy nests are rare and are only found on routes four and eighteen._

As we headed deeper into the sandy areas, we actually were supposed to find a grass type that liked the area and thrived there. It was a decorative little cactus with pink flowers on its head and bright yellow eyes. They often didn't bother us, however, just enjoying to relax in the sand.

But we were still able to get the data.

 _Maractus, the cactus pokemon. It uses and up-tempo song and dance to drive away the bird pokemon that pray on its flower seeds. Arid regions are their habitat. They move rhythmically, making a sound similar to maracas. Maractus nests are very rare and are only found on route four._

The last pokemon that we often saw a lot of were a sand crocodile pokemon. My brother had taken an interest in them, possibly wanting one to add to his team with Ruff and Trample, yet he was waiting for the right one to come along for him to ask to come with him. The pokemon was the same color as the sand, but its jet-black eyes would pop out, as well as its dark grey stripes and reddish pink belly. _Sandile, the desert croc pokemon. They live buried in the sands of the desert. The sun-warmed sands prevent their body temperatures from dropping. It moves along below the sand's surface, except for its nose and eyes. A dark membrane shields its eyes from the sun. Sandile nests are somewhat common and are only fund on route four._

"Piper! Lunch is ready!"

I was jolted from my throats when my brother called me for our meal. We had taken shelter in the ruins of the Relic Castle to escape the harsh winds of the sand that were blowing outside. For the past month or so, we had been training out there to make ourselves stronger. We'd often send someone to town to gather food for the day while we stayed on the route, embracing its nature and dealing with the climate change. Of course, after so many days we'd go back for a shower and what not to get cleaned up ad sleep in a bed, but it honestly wasn't terrible out there in the desert, especially on the clear nights where you could watch the stars.

"Smells good big brother!" I grinned as I hurried over to him. "What did you make? Homemade chowder?"

"Seafood like you requested." He handed over a large bowl for me and three smaller ones for my pokemon. "I've got extra if they want more and I've also got a berry salad I just finished. We've got in it oran, pecha, mago berries in there and to add a bit of flavor to the mix, I put in some iapapa juice to it. It's got a fairly sweet and sour taste to it."

"Nice!" I grinned at the food we were getting that day. "I'll come back for the fruit after I get the others to eat their chowders."

My brother shrugged at me. "Do what you want Sis, it'll be here with more when you're d-"

"You little thief!" We all jumped a bit when we heard Izzy snarl to the side. The first through that ran through my head was how I didn't make any pranks on him today. I was a bit more worn out from all the training and really wanted a break. I could always prank him later.

The next thing I thought of was whether or not my pokemon had bothered them or had I told them to do anything to Izzy in the last twenty-four hours. I couldn't remember anything and when I looked over at my poekmon, they only shrugged at me, thinking the same thing, with the exception of Lava who was waiting on my shoulder for her food.

"Izzy?" Bell jumped up to her feet with her pokemon hovered around her. "What's wrong?"

"Damn sandile took my fruit salad!" Izzy pointed to the little mass behind the rock where he and his pokemon had situated themselves and were eating the food my brother had made. Another look to the spot there was a sandile that had its head stuck into the bowl and was eating the berries with no concern for the four trainers and their pokemon watching it.

I snickered. "Looks like he has no problem taking your food Izzy."

"I _can_ see that Piper, no different than you." Izzy snarled and turned his head. "Like two peas in a pod…"

"Nice!" Everett grinned as he looked over at the pokemon. "Hey Sandile! You like my cooking?"

The little pokemon pulled its head out of Izzy's bowl and looked over at my brother with interest. "Sand?"

"Yeah, I made that, and this too if you wanna try it." My brother pulled out another dish and poured some of the chowder into it. The sandile happily moved over to where he was and ate the food with glee. The pokemon finished it with no time before looking up at my brother for more.

"Sand!"

"That good huh?" My brother knelt down before the pokemon and had another batch of the chowder waiting. "How about a deal? You become a member of my team and battle for me, and I'll cook more awesome food for you. How does that sound?"

"Sandile sand!" It grinned at my brother and began to eat the second helping at rapid speed, only then did its stomach echo out and show us just how hungry it was.

My brother patted the pokemon's head. "Glad to have you aboard then Krook."

"Sand!" The pokemon hardly batted an eye at its new name, but after the third bowl of food did it finally seem to slow down a bit. It calmed down at settled next to my brother side as it took a nap and we all resumed eating like it had never happened.

"Here Iz, another bowl for you." My brother snickered. "I'll catch Krook in a bit after the food has settled.

"Probably wouldn't be a bad idea Ev." I snickered at him before joining Bell who was giggling at the sour look Izzy was still giving off.

"I hate you both…"

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It was many hours later on that same night that the others had settled down for the night. My brother had set up a place for him to rest with Ruff, Tample and Krook in the far corner. His new pokemon settling in her own way. She slept right on top of him while the other pokemon either found a perch or just curled into my brother's side, not that he minded the many bodies around him.

Bell was only a short distance away with her fur pokemon curled up around her. While her dewott, herdier and pansear were all sound asleep, I watched as her shiny munna floated in the air above them all sending out soothing signals and dreams for them all to enjoy, either separated or together, I wouldn't know. Her munna was becoming much more calm as the days went by and we enjoyed the company of her pokemon, now that it was more content with others around, especially humans that weren't Bell. Tea Plasma had done a lot of damage to the poor pokemon and only now was it coming to terms with those fears as it stayed with us longer. It had aa much happier energy about it, also feeding off the dreams of her friends and experiencing them herself made it easier as well.

Izzy seemed to be one of the only ones left awake besides me. He sat deeper into the chamber we were calling home until the sandstorm was over. He was blankly staring at the wall across from him. I was unsure of what was on his mind.

Yet I knew what was on mine.

Thoughts of the capture of myself and Lava as an egg reached my quiet mind. I hated it. Always when things got quiet and I had nothing to distract myself with could I feel my nerves bundle up, bringing up the past that can't change no matter how much I wanted it. I couldn't change the way that Lava was born, I couldn't change the way that Team Plasma seemed to have taken interest in me.

Especially their king.

Who in hell was he anyway? Or were they a she? What was so interesting about me that they had me kidnapped, my egg nearly killed and emotionally traumatized me? I couldn't understand what was so important with me, a trainer that hardly had three badges to her name as well as half a full team. It just made no sense to me…

"Piper?" I lifted my head from where I was by the entrance of our room, away from my pokemon when I heard Izzy call out to me. I guess he came out of his own daze of sorts and saw I was still awake as well.

"Yeah?" I glanced over at him and he slowly rose to his feet, join me by the door. We could watch the howling winds from outside here. There was a pile of sand that was building up at the entrance were the storm was seeping in, however, it didn't seem to be much more than that, we could still see outside and get out if we needed to.

"You okay?"

"… I don't like it when its quiet like this…"

"Does… it make you think of then?"

I didn't have to tell him, he already knew even if he had questioned me. The look in my eyes where I was hardly present, passing back and forth from the past into present.

"Piper… will… you tell me what happened?"

My eyes widened and looked over at him. Izzy's eyes, while nervous which was a difficult thing to make him feel, were determined.

"Why…?"

"I wasn't there for you like I should have been. I want to even attempt to change that now. Be the best friend I should have been." He leaned in close so the others wouldn't hear. "Did you tell the others what happened?"

"Mostly… I just… didn't go into detail about Lava almost dying… and other things…"

That got his attention.

"What other things?"

I looked away from him. "What I didn't tell the others… was that… the king of Team Plasma was the one that wanted me… I was targeted."

"What?" His eyes widened in surprise. "Why?"

"I don't know… he wanted to talk to me… but that was when…"

His fist clenched. "Lava was nearly killed…"

"Her egg was thrown!" I tried to control my sobbing, keeping it silent. I didn't want my brother to wake and know about that. "I was bound… my arms behind me to a chair bolted to the floor… The grunt threw her egg at me when I insulted him… She could have died!"

Izzy hardly needed another que to reach over and pull me in close to him. I sobbed into his shoulder while he held me tightly. He helped me, holding me so close that my muffled cries didn't wake the others. I didn't want them to know. Another thing on my brother's shoulders wouldn't be good. And if he told my father…

We'd be looking at another world war if that came to be…

Still in his shoulder, I pulled on his clothes to get his attention. "Don't tell the others…"

"I won't." He continued to hold me like that for most of the night. With the haunting nightmares coming close, he held me, prepared to take it all and hold them back.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Look! The sandstorm stopped!" Bell cheered as early morning came. We looked out to see the sun shining intensely over the desert area. We could only see about some much of it thought, with the sand that had piled up before the entrance of the Relic Castle ruins we stayed in the night before.

"Well, let's push out the sand and get going to the next city!" I ginned at the others, the prior night taking away a lot of the pressure and pain that was once on my chest. "If we really push it, I bet we could make it after night fall! Or maybe a bit later."

"If you want lunch we're not going to make it at that time." My brother sighed and shook his head Ruff sitting on his shoulder as we prepared to leave "It takes a bit for me to make food Piper. Especially if you want it to look and taste super good."

"Then perhaps we should start moving. The sooner we get to Nimbasa, the better off we'll be." Izzy looked at the others with his cool gaze, but when he thought they weren't looking, he turned to me to gave a glace of a smile. Izzy had kept true to his word and kept quiet about what had gone on the night before. Bell and Everett gave no indication that they had heard anything, and if my brother had, he would have said something by now. I was thankful that he hadn't.

"Well, then let's move some sand!" Bell seemed energetic this morning. "Munna? Wanna use physic on that and move that pile of sand please?"

"Mu!" The shiny pokemon agreed to her quest and in no time, the sand was pushed out of the entrance of the ancient building. We took only a few steps out before we saw just how hot ti was going to be, even this mid-winter day.

I huffed. "It's hot…"

"I'm sure you can handle it Piper, after all you've ben quiet adept at doing nearly anything to me in any sort of weather." Izzy flashed me a grin at his joke and I instantly hurried and turned away, trying not to think wrongly about that comment.

"Just for that you're getting a super prank next time Isadore Gyan!"

I could hear him chuckle from behind me. "And I expect nothing else."

 **Witch's Note:**

 **I'm so glad I managed to get that done in the same week as the last chapter. So I'm slowly catching up. I'm glad to get this chapter out of the way, it was meant to be a filler in case any of you were curious, and to show how Everett got his next pokemon.**

 **I'm so excited for the next chapter, so hopefully I can get it out soon. Piper's gonna find out exactly who's been watching her and discover a lot more about Team Plasma then she knew before!**

 **Love you all and I hope you guys still love the story! Let me know what you guys think with Reviews and Questions! See you guys as soon as I can!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	13. Every King Needs a Queen

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 13: Every King Needs a Queen_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

"Wow!" Bell gapped at the scenery around as, twirling on her feet before she came to a stop. "Look at this city!"

And Bell had been entirely right in that moment. Our group of friends, including myself and all of our pokemon, were all stunned by the massive city of skyscrapers that appeared over us. Many buildings of grey or silver coloring stood above, perhaps anywhere from between fifty and a hundred stories to most of them. Yet off in the distance, I could distinctly make out areas that were not filled with buildings that stretched into the sky, but rather a park or a more common area for homes and small businesses.

Nimbasa was the city that had everything after all.

"Perhaps we should head over to a pokemon center and make sure all is well?" Izzy suggested to us. "We are, after all, somewhat tired from our journey. Let us get some breakfast and get our pokemon rested."

"It's more like lunch time Iz," my brother commented to the other human male of our group. "And before we do that, does anyone else see that older man getting harassed?"

Sure enough, when we looked down the street that led as an entrance into Nimbasa, we saw an older gentleman who seemed to be struggling with dealing with two individuals that were bothering him. But what made my blood boil the most was that it was Team Plasma grunts that seemed to be causing an issue to him.

"Fuck no, we are not going through this again." I huffed and began to march up to the bastards. "Ivy, Autumn, knock them out."

"Ser!" Ivy hissed and stretched out her tail to whip them.

"Deer!" Autumn stomped her hooves into the ground.

The two of my pokemon launched themselves forward and hurled their bodies into the Team Plasma grunts who cried out when they were thrown. When the two of them looked up to see my pokemon there attacking them, the grunts turned heel and ran, not even bothering to put up a fight.

"Thank you, young one!" The older man came to greet me once his bullies had left. "Those damn fools wouldn't take no for an answer."

"If you don't mind us asking," Everett and the others came in behind me, joining us. "What was the reason for those guys bothering you?"

"Oh those fools wanted me to give up some of my eggs for their organization to 'free them', thinking that with so many on our hands we'd just give them up to anyone." The older man shook his head. "I had told them that I'd never give any pokemon up to the likes of them and that's when things turned a bit more… aggressive I think is the word. We had not gotten into any physical fight, but it was going to be that way if you all hadn't of come."

"Well, their gone now." I offered a hand to shake. "I'm Piper."

"And I'm Sampson, perhaps as a thank you for helping me, you could allow me to buy you all lunch and a few items here in town to help you all on your journeys? I know you trainer types are always in need of items for long training session away from civilization to keep your pokemon and yourselves going."

"Are you sure about that?" Izzy questioned him worriedly. "There are a lot of us, and including our pokemon."

"We don't want you to spend a lot of money on us for just doing a good deed," Bell added softly.

"Oh nonsense!" The older man waved it off and motioned us to follow him. "I know the perfect place for lunch and all of us to enjoy Nimbasa's beauty! This way!"

The older gentleman led us away then to a spot deeper into the city, which we followed after him, unsure of what would take place as we entered the new city.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

The older gentleman, Sampson, had treated us all to a rich lunch of many rich flavors at a restaurant on the edge of the greenery where the amusement park was located. I was surprised that even in the heart of winter the park was still used, yet the weather in Nimbasa didn't get much below thirty. While it would see snow on the occasion, it was more of the cities to the north and south that saw snow, just being further away from the desert.

Once our bellies had been filled, the older man took us to a shop nearby and bought us a handful of potions and berries that had been on sale before had gone our separate ways. In the heart of a crowd of people, it was much harder in order for people to not only find you, but get to you. The masses of people we saw in this city were incredible…

Once we were alone, we began to explore hoping that we would be able to find some cool rides to enjoy since our pokemon had never had a chance to go on them before. I remembered some of the rides back when Dad had a bit more money and brought us here on the occasion. It had always been fun, but there had always been someone missing…

I was brought out of my thoughts when I hit someone. I raised my head to apologize when I saw who it was that I bumped into. My eyes widened as I saw it was grunts we saw earlier in the day.

"Shit!" He backed away quickly before taking off into the crowd, his partner following his lead.

"Why are we finding them all day?!" The other grunts words I just barely caught before I snarled and lunged after them.

"Piper! Wait!" I could hear Bell behind me. She easily caught up with the thick crowd we had to fight through. I broke through the crowd with my friends to miss on which direction the grunts had run to.

I huffed. "Shit, we lost them!"

"They may not have left the park yet, we may still have a chance!" Everett looked around wildly. "And I got a bone to pick with those assholes!"

"Everett!" Bell tried to quell him. "Calm down!"

"Those assholes mess with my sister and best friend, I'm am not putting up with their shit!" Everett took on a bit more of my father's personality in that moment, which he often did when he became angry and was trying to defend those close to him.

"Then let's split up." All of the others looked at me in surprise. "Guys, I'm okay, I'm not alone anymore, but the longer we wait to find them, the more of a chance they have to escape."

Izzy sighed. "She's right, if we try to stay together, we'll never find them in this crowd." He shook his head before turning to all of us. "Piper, your eyes have always been the best, perhaps head to the ferris wheel for a better view of the park? The line was same to its entrance. I'll check near the gym while Bell and Everett head toward the mini games and the rollercoaster."

"I can do that," I nodded to him. "Maybe I'll get lucky and they went that way…"

"Then let's go," my brother sighed before giving us all a determined look. "But everyone have their xtransceiver on and ready to contact anyone."

"Right!"

We all separated then and I took off toward the center of the park. Autumn and Ivy were hot on my heels while Lava sat in my arms, not entirely sure of what was going on. The race to the ferris wheel wasn't long, however, I was in for another surprise when I arrived.

I pushed through the crowd until I saw the tall structure before me with the small line that Izzy had mentioned to me. Only three people stood in the way and many of them seemed to be getting off the ride, the seats on the ride appearing mostly empty.

I slammed into another person there. The crowded city made it hard and to no avail could I make it anywhere without hitting someone. I lifted my head, surprised to see that N was there, standing before me with a hand outstretched.

"Piper? Are you alright?" N looked on with concern. "Have you broken anything?"

"I'm fine, just winded." I took his hand and allowed him to help me up. While N was questionable with his methods on the occasion when I saw him, his heart was in the right place, so I couldn't entirely ignore or hate him when he did strange things around me. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for a ferris wheel ride. I wanted to see what pokemon I could watch from the sky, since I do not have the ability to fly." N tilted his head to me. "And you?"

"I'm trying to find someone." I didn't want him knowing exactly what was up to incase he saw the organization in a different light.

"You must be after those stray Team Plasma grunts that came through here." My eyes widened at him. "I'm well aware that the organization has a few… odd men out that don't follow by its principals, in fact, I wanted to find them too."

"Don't tell me you plan to battle them?" I looked at him worriedly. "The last time we faced each other… it doesn't make me feel good about you doing that alone…"

"Oh no, I'm not alone," he smiled. "But perhaps we could look for them together? Two eyes are better than one, yes?"

I hesitated for only a moment before nodding my head. N wasn't a bad person, and if he was willing to help, I would take that help. "I could use the help. Sure."

"Let's get on the next cart then. Just give me a moment to hand over my bag. I have some breakables I've bought for home that I'd hate to have lost or broken."

I watched N hand over his bad to an attendant before the two of us got onto the ride. My pokemon took the seat next to me while N took the seat across. We quickly waited for the ride to begin and for us to start moving upwards only to see the two grunts we had been looking for run by the entrance we'd just been at.

My eyes widened and I raced to my xtransceiver to call the others when I noticed it was no longer on my arm. I hurried to check all my pockets and then my bag before I felt a hand settle over my own. N looked at me with a sad expression.

"N? Do you have a xtransceiver? They just moved past us! I need to call the others!"

"I had to make sure that no one would disturb us, like it should have been last time. I had to make sure you couldn't contact anyone until you had heard what I had to say."

My eyes widened. "Where's my xtransceiver?"

"I'd taken it from you when you slammed into me. It's in my bag on to the bottom of the ferris wheel. When the ride is over you can obtain it once more." N sighed, looking out over the horizon to see the grunts escaping and my friends still running about in all the wrong directions. "I had to make sure that the members of my organization were able to escape and assist with our plans in the future. If they're caught, then what good would they be in a prison block?"

I felt my blood then begin to boil. "So you're a member of Team Plasma?"

"Not quite." N gave me a bit of a smile then, his fingers touching the edge of his mouth while he used his hand and wrist to hold us his head while he leaned into the prior. "Piper, what you are not aware of is that I'm the king of Team Plasma, their leader."

The fire ended, just numb surprise filled my being after he said those words. _N was the leader of Team Plasma? Surely that had to be a joke right?_ But I had looked up into N's eyes then, the seriousness of the look he gave at that moment couldn't have been more real. He was their king, and I had been a fool.

"What the hell?" I scooted back away from him, the wheels turning in my head. "You're the one who ordered to have me kidnapped? Nearly had Lava killed?!"

N lowered his head. "That was not something I was hoping to happen… You and I had never been alone, and that was how I wanted to tell you this Piper Theron. I asked my grunts to bring you in, but to make sure that you would be well taken care of. It was a mistake on my part for not being more clear with them, and I am sorry for what occurred with them and your larvesta-"

"Lava could have died!" I roared at him, jumping to my feet. "She's only a baby and you had a grunt who _hurled_ her egg at me! If she had been any younger or under developed then she was, she wouldn't have made it and your little grunt would have never made it out of that building alive once I got my hands on him!"

"My sentiments exactly." N calculated look made me back off a bit while he concentrated entirely on me. "That action had been taken care of, he wouldn't have made it were it not for your larvesta's will to survive and luck. You're entirely right, which brings me to my other case and point."

I tilted my head as I breathed angrily, waiting for him to reply.

"Join me, become my queen."

My eyes widened, and before I knew it, my legs had become jello and I'd landed back in the seat behind me. _Join him? His messed-up organization with what goal in mind?_

"Allow me to explain." N pulled back a bit, sensing my need for space. "Since the time that I've met you, never had I met a person who loved their pokemon so unconditionally, and at the same time, the pokemon shared those same powerful feelings. A person like you with so much influence would be perfect for my side. You see the vision that I'm working toward, a world where pokemon are prefect beings and are free of human involvement to ruin it. You are also the only person who I would trust using pokemon to help obtain our goal. This is why I need you by our side, so that when all is said and done, pokemon no longer had to fear from humans no longer, and you would be the key piece."

I was quiet for a minute and N allowed me that time to think, forcing the information to be taking in by my brain. I couldn't understand how at all I could be any key piece to his organization, why would he want me at his side? I was simply a trainer. Granted, I had similar goals to what he wanted which was to help people and pokemon who were treated wrongly. It was part of the reason I wanted to be a champion.

I'd made that promise a long time ago, and I didn't plan to break it, not matter what.

"I always wanted to try and right the wrongs done by those of the past. I made a promise to someone who had been wronged long ago that I would become the champion and change this world…" I looked up at N who sat their patiently. "I wanted to bring pokemon and humans closer together after all the struggles that we've gone through, to change the future for others who will be to come."

N shook his head. "Bringing pokemon and humans closer together wouldn't work, and it's not planned in the future for us with the dream I have. For pokemon to become perfect beings, we must remove humans entirely from the equation." N sighed however. "Yet I believe I've given you too much information to take in. I believe it would be best if I leave you for a while to think over what I've asked of you. Don't worry, I wasn't expecting an answer this moment.

It was then that we hit the ground and I could feel the ferris wheel come to a stop. As soon as the door opened, I was stunned for a moment before I jumped from the seat and hurried over to where N's back had been placed. I looked inside the front pocket and sure enough, there was my xtransceiver, with twenty missed calls.

I quickly went into the screen to check and sure enough, they were all from my friends and brother. All of them were looking for me now. I quickly went to call them… but my finger hovered over the button.

Could I really tell them all that took place here? Even I couldn't quite understand it all at the moment. I needed a bit more time to be even able to process what even happened today before I could tell anyone or attempt to decipher what N wanted with me.

"Thank you for the ride Piper. I surely enjoyed your company." I turned around to N, who took his bag from me and placed it on his shoulders. "I plan to leave you now, but do tell me what you think next time. After all," he smiled at me. "Every king needs a loyal queen."

I was left speechless as he walked off them, calmly escaping everything around him. Once he vanished from the area could I finally move and sigh as I looked down at my xtransceiver, unsure if I could even call the others now.

 _But if I didn't… they would think I was kidnapped again…_

I pressed the send button finally, calling my brother. He picked after only a second and began to screech in my ear.

" _PIPER THERON!_ " I pulled my head back and incoherent sentences began to filter through.

" _Everett! She can hear you! Calm down!_ " I could hear Izzy's voice on the other end of the line. " _Piper, are you alright?_ "  
"I'm fine you guys. You wouldn't believe my shitty luck!" I gritted down, trying to sound like my normal self and fool them for the time being. "The damn signal for my xtransceiver cut out just as I saw the grunts! I couldn't make any phone calls out to you guys or message you! I didn't even get any of yours calls and messages until I got off just now."

" _You're shitting me!_ " Everett groaned on the other side of the line. " _I was worried sick you got kidnapped again..._ "

"No, I'm okay guys." I sighed. "Why don't we meet up somewhere, okay? I'm ready to find a pokemon center and then go do a bit of relaxing before training for tomorrow to battle the gym leader."

" _Is it closed Piper?_ " Bell questioned over the line.

"Yeah, says it will open after a fashion show taking place tonight. We should come back tomorrow." I took once quick glance at the sign to make sure my story was a bit more accurate before moving. "Where should I meet you guys?"

" _Stay there, we'll come to you, we only by the roller coaster._ " My brother hung up then on me, most likely marching right over to see if I'm okay. I sighed and looked back at my pokemon who had silently followed me through all the craziness today.

"Hang in there, you guys." I leaned down to pet both of my grass type pokemons' heads before turning my attention to my little fire type baby pokemon. "You okay Lava?"

"Coo?" She looked up at me strangely, not truly understanding much of anything that just happened.

But I believe that was the case with all four of us…

 **Jezebel's Point of View:**

We watched girl carefully from our distance away, Aria and I. The girl, Piper, couldn't tell that we were there at all watching her from behind the thick evergreen trees that protected us from her vision. She slowly walked away toward wherever her group had told her to meet up with them and I turned to Aria.

"So what do you think just happened Jez?" Aria glanced at me before looking at the scene before us. We had seen the whole ordeal where the green haired young man our own age had stolen Piper's xtransceiver and placed it in the bag, so that whatever conversation between the two of them were in the farris wheel, was unknown to everyone except those two humans and the pokemon present.

"It's easy enough to see that this N guy is a lot more involved then I'm sure we'd like to admit." I pouted while I watched the space empty of both the bodies of the two other humans we were watching. "We need to get more information on that guy."

"Should we have Vince and Cam doing research?" Aria blinked.

"It wouldn't hurt, and another other information they could pick up as well. Maybe we should send in Eira and Parker again? They've met her and she seemed okay with them, perhaps it would work to our advantage because Piper doesn't seem to know that they're IPHP League or that Eira's a champion…"

Aria tapped my arm lightly. "That might work, but what if she finds out?"

I shook my head. "We'll have to be careful. Let's get this information back to Vi and see what she has to say about it. She would have a better idea, but I think what we've come up with is fine. For the time being anyway."

Aria furred her brows. "What do you mean 'for the time being' Jezebel?"

I leaned against the tree. "As of right now, Team Plasma isn't doing as much harm as I had anticipated during the time frame that we've been here. We'll have to watch out, because once they begin to make their bigger moves, we'll be in the heart of it along with that girl and her friends. We'll want to get acquainted soon, maybe through Eira, or perhaps another way?" I held a finger to my chin. "I don't know if right now that would hurt Eira's position with that girl or make it easier…"

I teleported us out of the tree and quickly we were back in the pokemon center room that we had rented out for the time being. Aria sighed and moved over to where her pokenav was and dialed some numbers.

"So… we're checking with Violet?"

I snickered. "So long as you can get her away from Alex."

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Okay, wow I wasn't quite expecting this, but it just** _ **came to me**_ **!**

 **I hope you guys haven't all give up on me and this story yet, because I feel a bit of a "one of those moments" coming on! It just hit me suddenly this morning at seven when I woke up, and four hours later, boom! This chapter was born and done! Please excuse any mistakes however, I tried to give this chapter more of a read over, but mistakes always seem to sneak between the cracks.**

 **What did you guys all think of N though? Was he still in character, even with this bit of a change in the dynamics of him? I hope I fitted him and Piper well to the situation, as well as the others as well. We'll be seeing a bit more of them and some others in the next chapter, which I plan to begin working on NOW, and if this mood of my carries over, maybe I can get it up in a couple of days? Wouldn't that be nice?**

 **Especially when I should have had chapter nineteen out today… makes me a bit mad when I can't do things like that…**

 **But anyway, I hope you guys are doing well and I hope to hear for you! Hope you don't hate me and let me know what you think besides any Questions! Oh! And Reviews!**

 **Love you all and see you a soon as I can!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	14. Tough Decisions

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 14: Tough Decisions_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

The night had passed slowly. It was difficult to keep my mind off of what had taken place the day before. The others hadn't caught on to my lie as of then, but I was worried when it would come to light. N's words came to mind every so often and I was powerless to stop it.

 _Become my queen._

He wanted me to be his partner? But in which type of sense? Was it in an innocent sort of manner as just an assistance toward his cause? Or was this more series as in he expects a romantic relationship out of this?

Either side of the argument worried me.

Everything didn't make any sense any more. What I once thought of that older teen now had me even more so confused. I once thought he was just trying to find a way to keep pokemon safe and protect them from human harm. Yet… as of the day before, he very clearly had stated that he was a member-no, the leader of Team Plasma. He was there king. That meant that everything that took place up until this point was on his order, or by those of his higher ups. N had kidnapped Munna, had stolen the dragonite skull, kidnapped me, nearly killed Lava, and helped his members escape us.

And yet… still so much made no sense.

N's action didn't match up with what he wanted. Of course, I could see what he was fighting for, but the actions of Team Plasma didn't seem to follow that. Everything that had happened to us and most likely others didn't seem to follow N's liberation plan. While I wasn't entirely aware of what it was, I knew that some of the things that had happened were against his orders. Lava's near death experience at birth was the most prominent example of that.

I blinked my eyes as I sat in bed. _Was he perhaps a mock king?_

I shook my head. There was no way he could be, N was too involved in order to be a mock king of any king. That was serious, he really wanted me for a partner, no matter which sort of underlying reason for it.

"Piper?" I lifted my head and looked over to where Bell sat next to me at the table where we ate breakfast. The boys were on the other side while all of our pokemon were gathered around us.

I turned to her with a grin, pushing the previous thoughts from my mind. "What's up Bell?"

She narrowed her eyes a bit, but in the soft way that only Bell could pull off. "Are you okay?"

I raised an eye brow at her. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just… are you mad we didn't find those grunts? You've been a bit off since we came back yesterday…"

 _And you would be too if you went through what I have, or had been thinking the thoughts that were trapped in my head…_

"Well of course I'm pissed about that, but not much we can do." I shrugged, Bell and the others easily buying my lie. "I'm fine, sorry if I seem a bit spacy."

"Its fine Sis, I'm just glad your safe." Everett sighed. "You had me nearly pull a 'Dad' yesterday…"

"I think you did that well before anything big brother." I snickered over at him, but typical Everett hardly batted an eye and smiled at my comments and acted more like his laid-back self.

"So, are we almost finished so that we can face the gym leader today?" Izzy questioned as he looked between our nearly finished plates while his own was entirely bare. "I would like to put some more distance between us and where those bad memories of ours have taken place, as well as moving onto more locations. I've heard another cave is ahead after this city that contains some unique pokemon that are of electrical typing."

"Isn't that a bit backwards Izzy?" Bell blinked at him in confusion. "I mean, we're facing an electric gym leader now, doesn't that defeat the purpose of training there?"

"That doesn't mean more powerful electric type trainers or pokemon we won't face in the future," Izzy argued back. "Perhaps it does, but there is also the possibility of finding electrical types in there that may strengthen our teams."

"Oh yeah!" Everett grinned while he tossed the last of his meal into the air only for Krook to launch herself into the air and eat it before landing on the ground. "I heard there's an electric pokemon that I was hoping to add to my team in there! But we gotta beat Elesa Rai to get there."

That woman, Elesa Rai, was the gym leader of the city. She herself was a model as well as gym leader which lead to her building being closed down while the fashion show was going on. With the show now over, she was taking on trainers again who wished to revive her badge.

And the four of us planned to do just so.

"Then what are we waiting for?" I leapt up from my seat, my plate empty and I downed the glass of orange pecha juice I had before me. "Let's get moving!"

My pokemon quickly followed after me, Lava hanging onto my shoulder while Autumn and Ivy ran around my feet. The others hollered at me to wait on them as they gathered their things before joining me.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

The city of Nimbasa was naturally a maze to those who hadn't been there before, and in our case, that's just what we were.

Lost…

It had nothing to do with the fact that we couldn't read directions, no, that wasn't it at all. In fact, Izzy and Bell were incredible at reading maps and remembering their location while Everett and myself were pretty good with just normal common sense. However, Nimbasa still proved to be the hardest city to travel within with too many people in the way to see the land markers or signs to where we wanted to go. I never seen a city so crowded…

When we finally made it back to where the amusement park, we couldn't help but actually all feel relieved. We didn't think we'd make it all…

"There's the gym!" Bell cheered. She leapt into the air before we sprinted toward the entrance to said building. We all followed after her, all excited about how to figure out who would go first (and of course I would slip past the others when they were fighting, so long as I could get past Izzy…

"ISABELLA ADHIRA!" Bell screeched from the sudden yelling, appearing like a feline pokemon woken from its nap with a jump scare, before hiding behind Everett's body. She peered out from behind him only to shrink back again when she saw her father standing by the entrance to the farris wheel.

"Ah crap…" I hissed and backed up, placing myself between the father and daughter, Izzy and Everett doing the same.

"Young lady, do you have any idea how worried I was?!" Marco stormed over in our direction, people in the surrounding area immediately hurrying out of the way to stay out of the path of the fuming Kantonian. "You leave home with no note, no indication of where you're going! I looked for you all over the lower half of this region just short of calling the police! Then I find out that you became a trainer! What have your mother and I told you?! You're not fit to be a trainer, there was a reason we never agreed to let you out here!"

"And what's so wrong out here?!" I hollered back at him. "It's perfectly find for any of us but not Bell? Why in hell not?!"

"You don't know what this has done for her!" Everett snapped at the older man. "She hasn't been happier since she's been out here and her confidence has gone through the roof! She actually believes in herself and is learning new things!"

"Bell has done incredibly well in the short time span of the month and a half we've been on our own." Izzy pushed his glasses up on his face, still glaring at the other man who was only fuming more on the other side. "You should feel proud of her for all she has accomplished rather than berating her. She had obtained three badges on her own with little help from us and has a powerful team of four pokemon she's raised since the beginning of our journey."

"I don't care about any of those things!" Marco hollered. "The only thing that matters to me is that she's going to be home and safe! Right where you all should have left my daughter!"

"You never did think I could make it…" My breath was caught in my throat the second that Bell spoke. It was like the entire atmosphere, which once had been fury, had simmered down to regret all in a span of ten seconds. "You never believed in me."

Her father puffed out angrily. His blood pressure probably through the roof at the time. "Isabella that was never the case and you know it."

"Do I?" All of us gaped in surprise at the new tone in Bell's voice to her father. It had a sharp edge to it and even Marco seemed a bit nervous under her pricing emerald glare. "All that's mattered to you was that I was under your watchful eye, not causing problems or marking our family look bad." Her eyes narrowed and I was incredibly surprised to see this different side of Bell. Never once had she been this angry. She's always been a shy, slightly naggy, kind girl who never raised her voice to others.

 _I couldn't believe it, where was the damn camera when I needed it?!_

Marco's attitude changed right there as he tried to tell his daughter otherwise. "No Bella! That was never the case! I love you so much! After what had happened in Undella, I didn't want anything terrible happening to you-"

"So, you thought cutting me off from the entire world was the better option?!" Bell threw her fists into the air in aggravation. "I can't understand how you thought locking me away was the best for me! If I didn't have my friends here, I would still be at home and being some blind, obedient child who would have no future! I'd know nothing and by that point, I would never want to learn! I don't want that! I want to stand on my own two feet and live my life! Learn where I belong, where I'm best needed and where I want to be!"

"Bell, you must listen! I was doing it for your safety!"

"In the middle of the day, you wouldn't even let me over to my friend's house next door! You could have watched me through the window!"

"Part of the reason I never let you over is because of those damn twins!" Marco cursed, pointing at us. "I've never trusted then, especially that girl!"

"Oh joy to me…" I stuck my tongue at him. "Because I'm that much of a bad person…"

My brother sighed. "Well… we never do good for ourselves with all the pranks we do, giving bad impressions…"

"Everett," Izzy chided him. "Be quiet, you're not helping."

I raised my arms dramatically. "Thank you!"

"And you as well." Izzy narrowed his eyes at me. "You're also night helping your case… just by being yourself."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"It doesn't matter to me that they're not perfect!" Bell screeched. All of us were silenced as we looked at her in amazement. "They care about me and are always there for me no matter what! Unlike you!"

Bell's eyes looked like they were pools of glowing acid from the way she spoke to her father. I was sure he could feel the sting of her comments that she lashed out to him, much like a serviper to its prey. Marco had no room to comment. Many times, he had put down his daughter's desires for his own and whatever the hell it was that he wanted. We never honestly knew what it was that he wanted, but we couldn't tell if he ever had her best interests at heart.

"I should have known this would happen." All of us whipped around our heads to see two women walking toward us. One of the two I instantly recognized as Bell's other, Adalina Adhira. Bell's mother shared the same hair color and eyes, but her calm demeaner showed that Bell received her personality from both her angry Kantonian father and her calm mother. "I think you have done enough Marco."

"But Ada!" Marco rushed over to her side with the other woman who stood next to her. "We haven't heard from her in weeks! She was with those trouble makers-"

"Hey!" Everett and I shouted.

"We had no idea where she was!" He carried on like he hadn't heard us.

"Marco, enough." The woman barely batted an eye. "You're temper gets you into the worst of situations, you're lucky I can hold my own when I'm with you."

"Adalina! You're not listening to me!"

"I've heard you, but I am disregarding it because I've known where Bell was this entire time."

Well _that_ surprised us all…

"Wha-" Marco seemed as if he couldn't understand. "Ada…?"

"I'm the head designer for Elesa Rai, you really think I couldn't ask her a small favor of having the gym leaders check up on my daughter and see how she was doing?"

The woman to Adalina's side smiled at us. Her short blond hair curled around her face while her light blue eyes were striking in comparison to the stunning colors on her. She wore black tights on her legs with tall yellow heels. A long yellow and black striped shirt came down to her upper thighs and a thin yellow sleeveless jacket was over that, exposing her arms and pale, yet flawless skin.

"Myself and the other gym leaders have been keeping an eye on you, Isabella." Elesa's voice was soft as she spoke, calming in nature, defusing some of the atmosphere. "While we weren't watching all the time, we would see you for your gym battles and notice the changes in you. My friends have told me how well you've done, and I've watched the video footage. I'm excited to battle you and your friends today."

Adalina looked back to her husband. "I know your heart was in the right place, but you must let go of Undella town. What happened was years ago, love. Bell has grown since then and can handle herself much more now. She is not alone, and its beyond time you let go of you fears, for it is tearing apart our family."

"But we nearly lost her!" Marco hollered. "You really expect me to just put that aside?!"

"No, but I do expect you to move on." Adalina sighed and moved to her husband's side, placing a hand on his chest. "Love, you've been trapped in the past from ten years ago, when that day took place. Bell is fine and alive here. You can't hold her back from the road before her anymore. It's time for her to learn and became her own person, and she can't do that if you keep her locked up because you're afraid."

"That's what this has all been about?" Bell moved from behind Everett and stood before her father and mother, all members of the Adhira family preset. "All this time I thought you didn't believe in me and thought I was worthless and it was just because you were afraid? You hurt me all this time for that?!"

"I did it for you!" Marco roared out. "Why don't you understand that?!"

"Because I thought you didn't love me!" Tears escaped Bell's eyes and before anyone could stop her, she flew back and ran. Everett took no time in hauling ass to keep up with her and we all in turned glared at the older man who stood there with stunned features, finally realizing the true torment of his actions toward his daughter.

"Bell… is that how you truly feel?" Marco leaned back against the light pole behind him. "But I love you so much…"

"I told you this wouldn't go over well." Adalina shook her head. "I believe it's best to leave her be and let her cool off. She's inherited your temper, that's for sure, and of course, two angry Kantonians are the worst to deal with." The woman turned to Elesa. "I will return later to continue preparing for tonight's show. I would battle the children before things get any more out of hand. I will deal with my husband."

"Of course, thank you for all our help Adalina." Elesa bowed her head before the older woman walked off and only Izzy and I remained with the model. "So, could I interest you two in a battle? I realize that now may not be the best time due to your friend's mood, but perhaps after you've found her?"

"I like the idea of that, thanks." I saluted her. "Once we get Bell, we'll be back, and I call dibs on first match!"

"Piper!" Izzy snarled, but in that instant I took off running. The young man I called my best friend came running after me, leaving Elesa in our wake while we chased after my brother to go and find Bell.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

It took us a good while to find Bell. She had managed to run all over the entire city before she finally found a spot to stop and cry at. She was infuriated with her father. For all the grief he'd given her and didn't expect her to feel anything wrong… man she was pissed over that. I can honestly say I'd never seen the poor girl so angered by anything in her life.

Everett was able to find Bell once she had finally stopped her run. She had clear made it all the way to the other side of town before she stopped. He had found her under a small tree, sobbing. My brother had been quick to call us and tell their location before comforting our friend. Even after we had arrived, Bell was in shambles. Her body wracked with sobs, at some point just crying out because he body wouldn't produce any more tears for her.

After that she got quiet. It was rare for Bell to do that. She was always constantly mumbling, nagging, doing some small things to make you feel more comfortable with her around. It honestly really worried us when she didn't respond to us for a long while.

"Guys… can we move maybe?" Bell finally lifted her bloodshot eyes to look at us after what was a few hours of sitting on the other side of the city as she tried to calm down. "I need to… get my mind off of him… can I watch you all battle Elesa?"

"Of course, you can Bell." I was the quickest to move then, not because I was excited for the match. Of course I was excited for that, but I knew Bell needed to move then at that point. There was no reason to put that off and make her angry or upset even more so then she already was.

With myself on my feet already, I just held out my hand for her to grab and help her up. Bell took it and I closed my hand around her wrist so I wouldn't drop her, yanking her then to her feet. She almost fell into me, but I was prepared in case she did, my other arm at the ready to catch her.

My brother and Izzy then climbed to their feet while our pokemon swarmed around us. Munna was quick to settle herself in Bell's arms and give her something to focus on. Pansear also jumped up to her shoulder and hugged her arm, hanging there. Dewott and Herdier stood at her feet, looking up at her hopefully and she tried to give them a soft smile, even after all that had taken place today.

I held Lava in my arms as we began to walk. Ivy looked up at me with a pointed look. I could tell she and Autumn were worried for Bell, but I tried to give her back a look to tell her how it would be okay. Bell would recover from this and become stronger.

We quickly made our way back over to where the gym was. I could see that Marco and Adalina both weren't nearby, yet I saw the gym leader was taking some photos with some other people in the pack before she noticed us walking toward her.

"So you've come back," she stated, looking over all of us before her eyes fell to Bell, somewhat hiding behind Everett somewhere along the way. "And how are you Isabella?"

"I'd rather not talk about it…" Bell turned her head away, hiding slightly behind my brother.

"Of course." Elesa turned to myself and Izzy. "I'm assuming the rest of you are here for your matches?"

"Hell yeah, we are!" I grinned at the gym leader. "And I called the first one!"

"I remember." Elesa nodded before leading us backward into her gym. "Please follow me."

The older woman led us back to where we could see a fashion show being set up. A glass walkway was down the middle while chairs were set up on either side. The room was dark with some bright lights focusing in on the stage. Elesa led us beyond that to where we could see a field was for her gym matches.

The room was incredibly dark, the floor itself made of a black, reflective material with bright lights hanging above us. Simple lines of bright while were draw out for the trainer boxes and the edges of the field, but other than that, it followed the similar style. Elsea took to one side and I took the other. My friends sat on the extra seating to the side.

"So I have three pokemon to fight with, and I see you do as well." Elesa smiled as she stood to her own side of the field. "I hope you've trained well, my pokemon will not go easy on you. Being a model is only one of my many jobs."

"Good, and you better not go easy on me!" I smirked from the side. "Let's start this off then Autumn!"

My deerling then appeared on the field and smiled when she saw she was going to battle first. With her having less experience then Ivy, I wanted her to face the beginning pokemon to give her a bit of an edge. With electric type pokemon, grass more or less fight them on equal ground. No one has a supper effect attack, not even a normal attack. It would mostly be a battle of endurance, and I knew that would be good for my newest member of my team.

"An interesting choice, but I've seen that you battle with mostly grass types." Elesa tapped her chin for a moment, thinking, before she pulled out a pokeball. "Then let's start off with Emolga!

I looked across the field to see the small pokemon appear. It reminded me of a pikachu. It had the same kind of cute face and similar pouches on its face to store electricity, but this pokemon was smaller, looking more like half its size and mostly white with yellow and black accents. It had little wings on its arms and seemed to hover in the air while it watched Autumn from below.

My pokedex was soon in my hand and I was seeing what information I could gather on it. _Emolga, the sky squirrel pokemon. The energy made in its cheeks electric pouches is stored inside its membrane and released while its gliding. They live on treetops and glide using the inside of a cape-like membrane while discharging electricity. Emolga nests are common and can be found on routes five, six, seven, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, as well as the Lostlorn Forest._

 _Shit… it's a flying type too…_ I cursed as I saw that this pokemon was a duel type, making it partially at an advantage over both Autumn and Ivy, regardless of which one I used. Yet at the same time, it was a good thing, to give more practice to Autumn as she tries to get stronger, now that she had shown more of an interest into battling after training in the desert.

"I'll offer the first move to you Piper," Elesa gestured to me. "Do use it wisely."

I grinned at the gym leader. "You better believe I'm going to."

I'd had spent a lot of time doing research for Autumn to help her out in this type of gym due to the issues with electric types and the fact I knew that one of those pokemon might know some fire or electric moves that would really hurt Autumn. When I found out that she could use a certain move to help steady herself on the field, I was more than happy to work with it.

"I am curious as to see what you decide to do against my emolga," Elesa wondered aloud. She tapped her chin as she watched us. "I don't find many trainers use deerling or their evolutions of sawsbuck."

"Then let's start out with camouflage!" My friends were all surprised by the move that I was using and Autumn cried out and mist appeared around her body.

This move was entirely useful, but only a few types of pokemon could learn it, like Autumn. Depending on the environment, Autumn could change her type from a normal and grass to only that of a normal, or rock, ground, water, ice, grass and more, depending on the environment. With us being within a building, that would make Autumn a normal type.

"I see, so you managed to remove your grass type disability to Emolga by using this 'camouflage' move." Elesa smiled as she saw the strategic move used against her. "I hope you continue to surprise me, but I believe it may be my turn, even if you haven't attacked." She guested to my pokemon. "Emolga, use quick attack!"

"Ma!" The pokemon moved in the air before it glided toward Autumn and quickly slammed its body into her. Autumn flinched lightly, but the attack didn't do much damaged as the first move.

"Jump kick Autumn!" My pokemon spun around and hurled her back legs into the pokemon, even with the move being a fighting type and Emolga a flying, it was still a powerful hit on a small pokemon.

"Ma!" The emolga cried out as it was hurled back at Elesa, landing at her feet and attempting to stand once more.

"Deer!" Autuumn was thrilled that she was preforming well. It was improving upon her confidence and I was excited to see that she was improving from the skittish deerling I found a month ago, just outside of Castelia.

"Hang in there Emolga!" Elesa narrowed her eyes at us on the other side of the field.

"Keep on the attack Autumn!" I grinned from my side of the field. "Energy ball!"

"Deer!" Autumn summoned the green energy before her then shot it toward the opposing pokemon. The emolga cried out as it tried to rush away from us, running along the ground to the side. The attack just barely missed, scrapping by the end of its tail.

"In to the air Emolga!" Elesa tried to assist her rapidly failing pokemon. The pokemon ran toward the wall to try and make it back up into the air to avoid some of our attacks.

"Follow it and knock it down! Feint attack!"

A dark haze came over my pokemon and she raced across the field and slammed into the body of the electric type. It wasn't able to get into the air and rolled across the ground before it ended up by Elesa feet, unable to stand.

"Emolga…" Elesa blinked at her pokemon for a moment before turning her head back to my pokemon and I. "I can see why the others had a hard time with you, I'll be more careful of that in the future."

"I hope so, because if I'm not in for a good fight, then what's the point of me battling the gym leaders?" I chuckled. "The point of my journey is to get stronger, and if you can't do that, then you're not doing your job as a gym leader!"

Elesa sighed, retuning her pokemon and drawing another ball from her belt. "Yes, that is entirely true. Balancing two lives has never become an issue before, however, I will note that you are strong as well as a hidden tactician beneath the surface." The model's eyes narrowed at me. "I will not give you any such liberties like you had before, face my next pokemon. Assist me Joltik!"

Before me appeared the spider like electric pokemon that I hadn't seen in many years. I was somewhat familiar with it, and the very image of that pokemon before me caused my eyes to widen. Bright yellow fur, four arms and bright sapphire blue eyes. It was the pre-evolved form of _her_ pokemon after all…

 _Get a grip Piper… you're in the middle of a battle! The past can wait!_

Quickly I pulled out my pokedex, eager to see if I would be missing any information that I wasn't already aware of with the breed. _Joltik, the attaching pokemon. Joltik that live-in cities have learned a technique for sucking electricity from the outlets in houses. They attach themselves to large-bodied pokemon and absorb static electricity, which they store in an electric pouch. Joltik are someone common, but are known mostly to live in Chargestone Cave._

 _So not much different then what I knew. I should have known._ I looked away from my device to look at Autumn. The grass type changed normal looked at me with a worried feature upon her. She could sense the growing dread as well as my hesitation when I looked at the pokemon across the field.

 _I had to face it, there was no way to stop and the world was not about to change for me, regardless of how I wanted it to._

Elesa seemed to notice my hesitation and the change of the mood in the battle. "Is something the matter Piper?"

"No, I'm fine." I shrugged off her concern even as the ever nagging I could feel in y skull came from my friends and brother's worried glances from the side. Only Bell was the odd one out not understand the full picture, but Izzy and Everett knew. They always had…

"Very well, then I will begin." Elesa's eyes narrowed. "Now joltik, use energy ball!"

I was stunned by the grass type move for a moment until I saw the attack being prepared as a green ball of energy before the electric type. I quickly shouted out to Autumn: "Shadow ball!"

The ghostly attack gathered before my pokemon and the two attacks were launched at each of the opposing pokemon. They clashed in the middle of the field and exploded, pushing each of the pokemon back.

"Now Autumn, use jump kick!" My pokemon huffed before rushing forward. She appeared before the small electric pokemon, then turned her rear end toward it and slammed back her feet, sending the pokemon flying into the air and the wall. The cracked into a million pieces when the pokemon's body hit it and crumbled before landing on the ground in a large heap.

"Joltik!" Elesa cursed as she saw her pokemon on the ground. We watched for a moment before the small Pokemon pushed the rubble of its body and moved forward on the field.

"We're not out of this yet! Now use thunderwave!"

The pokemon hurled a small ball of electricity of faded colors at us. Autumn braced herself for the move until I told her to evade. She jumped to the left, cheering when she'd escaped the attack.

"Nice!" I congratulated her.

"Not so fast!" Elesa's cry caught me by surprise and the joltik appeared at Autumn's side. "Now use x scissors!"

The breath left my lungs as Autumn was hit with the powerful bug type move. I was thankful that it wasn't super effective then thanks to camouflage, but it looked like it really hurt as she hit the ground and slid until she appeared before my feet.

"Autumn!" I made a move to approach her but she shouted back at me to stop.

"Deer!" Autumn slowly rose to her feet. I could see one of her hooves was heavily damaged from the attack, the back right one, as well as the rest of her leg and the side of her body. It was covered in heavy red rashes and scrapes, blood mixing into it from where her thick skin had broken.

"Autumn, it's okay! You did your best!" I called out to my pokemon. "Please come back! Ivy will finish this up!"

"Deerling! Deer deer!" Autumn shouted back at me with tears I her eyes from the pain. She didn't want to leave the field until she was knocked down or had won.

I sucked in a breath before giving in. "Fine, but be careful. Another move like that on you and you'll be in some serious trouble."

Autumn's face glowed at the permission and care. She cried back enthusiastically before turning back to her opponent. I knew that Autumn wasn't going to be able to fight much more. With her wounds and the pain, it was probably all it took to keep herself standing.

"Keep it back Autumn! Use shadow ball!" My deerling cried out and let lose the attack. The joltik jumped to the side and quickly began to speed toward my weakened pokemon.

"Now use x scissors again!" Elesa ordered. Her pokemon launched itself them, sprinting forward.

"Grass knot!" My cry rang out and soon everything was still as we heard a sickening crack ring through the air. We all looked at the joltik that was no longer able to move and was suffering from a broken leg in the grass that grew up from the heart of the field.

I grinned. "Just in the nick of time... nice job Autumn!"

She smiled at me before laying down, her swelling legs to the side to rest. She was still awake, but she was so exhausted from the battle I couldn't, and wouldn't, make her fight anymore.

"I believe both of our pokemon out for this round." I raised my head toward the gym leader as she held her own pokemon. "Joltik's let is broken right through from all the battling he's done. I think it's best to let them rest while we finish this up."

"Definitely." I nodded to the woman before I carefully set Lava to my shoulder and took Autumn into my arms. I carried her slowly to the other. "Can one of you guys maybe take her to the pokemon center? I'm worried about her wounds and really want Nurse Joy to see them as soon as possible."

"I don't mind." Bell surprised me by taking my pokemon into her own arms. "I'm _okay_ Piper, the boys should stay since they'll have their match right after and you and I can meet up. Let me do it. I'm feeling a bit... antsy..."

I nervously looked at the girl before me. She still had blood shot eyes from when she cried her heart out for all the pain her horrible father put her through, she looked like she would cry again, but sometimes that's what you need.

"I'll meet up with you afterwards."

She smiled at me. "Thanks Piper, good luck!"

She left then with Autumn in her arms. I watched her run out of the gym while her pokemon let themselves out of their pokeballs to guard her as they ran in the streets.

Once Autumn was taken care of, I turned back to my opponent who had a staff member hiding around to take Joltik to the same location for treatment. She narrowed her eyes at me and the two of us took our places once more on the field.

"And now the final match." Elesa smirked at me. "This has been an eventful day. Your just as strong, if not stronger, then what I was hoping for. Now face my final pokemon! Let's go Zebstrika!"

I soon saw the beast of white and black coloring that reminded me a bit of a rapidash from its shape, yet spike accents were on its head and tail, as well as electric blues glared at me.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex to see what this Pokemon was. _Zebstrika, the thunderbolt pokemon and the evolved form of blitzle. They have lightning-like movements. When Zebstrika run at full speed, the sound of thunder reverberates. This ill-tempered pokemon is dangerous because when its angry, it shoots lighting from its mane in all directions. Zebstrika nests are somewhat rare and can only be found on route seven._

 _Shit! It can know fire moves?!_ I flinched as I saw it was able learn flame charge. Elesa smirked, she knew what my other pokemon would be. She was just waiting for it to appear.

"Let's go Ivy!" My grass starter appeared before me and glared down at the electric type. Ivy gave the Pokemon a sassy smile afterwards though and I saw the electric pokemon become enraged.

"Zebstrika! Keep your cool!" Elesa tried to control her pokemon but failed. The pokemon that was to face us was enraged at my grass type and her mood.

 _Nice job Ivy, making it mad so it won't think strait and use its fire moves._ I smirked at my pokemon and she copied the look back to me. We both turned back to our opponent then who looked ready to charge.

"Leaf tornado!" Ivy conjured up whipping winds with sharp leaves cutting through the air. They were sent in the direction of our opponent who cried out as they approached, somehow coming to its senses as it was attacked.

"Don't let those leaves bother you! Use flame charge!" Elesa cried and suddenly the pokemon was covered in flames and got rid of the leaves cutting away at its skin, however, it didn't plan for the wind since the gusts sent the flames out of control. "Zebstrika!"

"Stay back Ivy!" My grass type pokemon extended her tail then to the ceiling to pull herself out of the way of the winds that gusted around the electric type as it thrashed around. Knowing a fire move is only beneficial if hurts the other opponent, not if it hurts you as well. I was able to take and use the move against the pokemon who tried to use it against me, and the fire burned at its skin.

The electric type broke through the fire and the wind finally cut down. Yet some damage had been done, the pokemon had been burned on its side and looked quite nasty. Ivy landed down on the ground again once she saw the fire was gone. The electric type glared at her, not pleased with losing its composure during the battle.

"Control yourself Zebstrika, they are not getting our badge so easily!" Elesa spoke out to her pokemon and it seemed to come to its senses. The pokemon looked back to its trainer, nodding before looking back to us. I could see the electricity bouncing off its body, turning away from the fire moves in fear of having it used against them again.

"Let's see what other moves you have then," I snickered at her. "Ivy, use leaf blade!"

Ivy smirked and raced forward, sliding on her stomach before she ended up before the electric type and hurled her tail at it. Her tail having sharp leaves extending off of it and glowing hit the front of the zebstrika as well as a portion of where it had burned itself. The pokemon screamed out and backed away before its eyes zeroed in on my grass type.

"Stomp!" The electric type responded to the model's command and reared up before bringing its feet down. Ivy slithered out of the way while the pokemon raced after her. "Now use spark!"

The pokemon coated itself in electricity and chased Ivy around the field. She stayed ahead of the pokemon, but it kept up with her well. As the pokemon tried to close in on my pokemon, Ivy leapt up into the air out of reach and grabbed the ceiling once again and hung out of range of the opposing pokemon.

"That won't work a second-time Piper!" Elesa cried out. "Zebstrika use shock wave."  
"Ivy!" I shouted to my pokemon. "Move!"

However, Ivy wasn't fast enough that time, she dropped to the floor to evade, but the pokemon hurled out its electrical attack at the same time. My pokemon and the attack collided and Ivy screeched out. I gasped, my hands flew to my mouth as Ivy landed on the ground, nearly charged black and covered in electrical charges.

"IVY!" My screech left my mouth before I could stop it. I planted my foot to leap out onto the field, but movement stopped me. I saw Ivy moving. She flinched as a charge moved over her body, but kept moving upwards. I could barely make out raging red eyes that peaked trough the charcoaled skin. She shook her head at me. She wanted to finish this match.

And there was no way in hell I would let Lava face this match up…

"Ivy, are you okay?" My pokemon nodded to me and I nervously watched her before she took a stance again, ready to fight. I watched her for another moment before finally calming myself and giving her the change to fight again, even with how wounded she was.

That one move nearly took her out, another one couldn't hit or we'd be out.

"Again Zebstrika! Use shockwave!" Elesa then sent out another attack in our direction. The pokemon cried out before I saw the attack take shape and the electricity raced toward us.

"Ivy! Use leaf storm!"

A sudden hurricane of wind and leaves appeared in the space and the bolt of course flew right through it. I dived to the ground with Lava in my arms to avoid the hit, but I was thankful as I watched when Ivy was not where the attack had hit.

Elesa gasped, looking around wildly for my pokemon. "Where did the servine go?"

"Now Ivy!" My pokemon appeared in the kicked-up dust to the side of the gust vanishing in the room. "Use leaf blade!"

"Ser!" Ivy flew out of the wind and slithered her way up to the burnt side of the electric type. Her tail slashed at the zebstrika and it screeched out in pain as the burn was irritated and the force of the attack pushed the opposing pokemon into the wall behind Elsea. Her eyes widened as she turned to look and see her pokemon lodged into the wall. She quickly stepped out of her box just as the pokemon leaned forward and fell out onto the ground, entirely defeated.

I let out a deep breath I'd been unconsciously holding and hurried out onto the field. As soon as Ivy saw me, she tipped over, so weakened by the battle, and fell into my arms. I could see her red eyes look up at me weakly.

"You did amazingly…" I couldn't help the weak laughter escape me from how proud I was of her. "It's okay now Ivy, rest. I'll get you to Nurse Joy and soon as I can."

"Ser…" She let herself drift off then and fall asleep. I quickly pulled her back into her pokeball and looked back then to see Elesa who was approaching me, her pokemon already returned and being taken to a private healing center in the backroom by one of the assistants of the model.

"I won't keep you long, I know your pokemon needs healing and your friends wish to battle me. But take this, you've more than earned it after the challenges from facing me."

The young woman placed a badge into my hand that looked much like a lightning bolt. Neon yellow was fitted in the middle of a golden badge, with the edge being more mid-toned orange. Once I had it securely in my hands, I held it close before looking back at the gym leader.

Elesa smiled at me. "I plan to let the next gym leader know of your exploits here and your strength. I'm sure you will a much more _interesting_ time with him due to his type choice." She held out a hand for me to shake and I reciprocated the action.

"Thank you Elesa, for the battle and everything." I then stepped back from her and waved the guys in the stands. "I'll see you guys soon! I'm gonna check on Bell and see how Autumn's doing!"

"You go ahead then and take care of them then Sis!" Everett waved to me. "We'll meet up with you later!"

"Enjoy your victory Piper, I'll be coming after you for another match soon to show the strength my team and I have now received." Izzy smirked at me, chuckling while moving out of the stands, preparing to face Elsea next.

I pouted at him. "We'll see! I won't believe you until you actually manage to beat me!"

Not listening to his reply, I hurried out of the gym to the pokemon center where I knew my other seriously wounded pokemon was with Bell, awaiting treatment.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Oh Piper! There you are!" I was surprised to see Bell in good spirits as I entered into the pokemon center. I assumed it was due to her wanting things to go back to normal, so she was trying to act more like her normal self. It the things we saw today didn't happen, I would have believed her, but I knew she was pushing some of her feelings down. I wouldn't push her, but I would be cautious and be there as she needed me.

"Hey Bell!" I joined her quickly at the couch she sat at. "How's Autumn?"

"A lot better!" Bell smiled at me. She pulled back the blanket on her lap to show my pokemo sleeping there with Munna. "Nurse Joy took her in right away and the broken bones were easily healed with her other wounds. She just resting now."

"I'm so released…" I sighed. "Now I just need her to take Ivy now… she was hurt really bad too…"

"Oh no!" Bell quickly raised her hand to get the attention of either Nurse Joy or her partner, Chancey. Once the pokemon saw us, she rushed over at took the pokeball from my hands with a cheerful pat to my shoulder to tell me everything would be okay. "What happened to her?"

"She got electrocuted, hard…" I chuckled before I showed Bell my newest badge. "But it was worth it. Ivy wouldn't let me pull her out until we had won."

"I'm glad." Bell smiled, a bit more sincerely that time. The pain, while still fresh, was slowly healing.

Now we just had to prey her father wouldn't show-

"Isabella!" Both of us flinched as the man quickly entered the pokemon center and it was a moment before I dived before Bell, protecting her from her father, hopefully much better the second time around. "Please hear me out! I had no idea that you felt that way! Just hear me out!"

"Why?!" Bell screeched from behind me, her grip on my shoulders surprised me as she had never been so angry before. Was this what my brother felt this morning? "You never listened to anything I had to say, so why should I do that for you?! Everything in my life was a lie with the way you twisted my feelings!"

"I thought I told you to give her some time to sort out her feelings?" Adalina suddenly appeared and stood between the two, so silent that we never noticed her until she was between them. "Marco, you're not helping your case. You were wrong, like I told you long ago. Now you must lay in the bed you've made."

"But Ada!" The man stormed up to her and grabbed her arms, shaking her back and forth. "I can't leave it here like this between my daughter and I!"

"You're going to have to." Adalina shook her head and gently pushed him away. "Bell will not listen to you now, because she sees you as a lying sack of tarous shit. You need to give her the space she needs to think things over, and perhaps talk to you later on, or maybe never again, but I believe she has that choice."

"How are you so fucken calm about this?!" the husband shouted back to his wife.

"And how can you be so ignorant!" Bell sobbed. "I hate you! Go away!" She then hid her face behind me into my back. "Piper… make him go away… please…"

"You got it Bell." I turned back to where my pokemon and hers had been watching the ordeal still on the couch. "Autumn, I need some help!"

"Deer!" She hurried over to stand before me and growled at the older man. Marco nervously took a step back once a pokemon was involved.

"Excuse me, but that's enough!" Another person decided to join our little screaming match next, and it was none other than Nurse Joy who was returning Ivy to me. I happily took her pokeball and let her out while the boss of the building turned to face the father. "You're being incredibly rude! And to your daughter none the less! You should feel ashamed of yourself! Not only that, but you're also bothering my other patients here! You need to leave!"

"But-"

"Marco, out." The order from his wife was final. I saw a chill run up his spin for the seething look she gave him, one quite different from what we had seen all day. She was finally being pushed to her limit.

Marco finally agreed, but not before looking at Bell one more time. She didn't return the favor as she hid behind my back. I watched as Marco sighed before he walked out the door. Once he was gone, the tension in the air left and Bell looked up timidly at her mother, who's face had calmed and a small smile was there.

"My beautiful Bella, come here." Bell gently moved around me and wrapped her arms around her mother. "It's alright, my love. He's gone now."

"Mom… why did he treat me like that for all this time… why didn't you stop him sooner?" Bell flashed her tearing eyes up to the older woman and she sighed.

"Bella, Marco has been worried sick for your safety for many years now. We once upon a time lived with his family in Kanto, but when I was chosen to be the head stylist and coordinator for Elesa since she was a little girl, we moved to Unova. We began in a small home in Undella where your father was able to land a high paying job with the hotels there. Shortly after we'd moved in, people broke into our home and had attempted to rob us and kidnap you."

"Mom…?" Bell gasped and I was frozen as well from hearing the story.

"Your father had heard your crying and found them just as they tried to grab you." Adalina pulled her daughter closer to her and I saw the single tear that raced down her face from the fear of the past. "I called the police while your father beat them… until they died."

Bell's eyes shot open, and even my jaw dropped at hearing that Marco, who I thought was all bark and no bite, had killed someone, let alone a group of people.

"Your father was excused from all the charges due to it being self-defense, but then no one would associate with him anymore because of what he had done. People would always look at him in fear that he would snap and kill others. Regardless of his intentions, he's a murder in their eyes. Marco pulled back, focusing on raising you while I was still able to work. But then that made it hard on you. In order to keep you safe, he would always be home, triple lock the door, and refused to allow you anywhere. Though that was impossible once we arrived in Nuvema… once you met the twins and Isadore." Adalina raised her head and smiled at her daughter. "They helped you grow up so much, and I know this journey is good for you, but Marco's own fears as the public berating him like a criminal hasn't helped at all."

"Mom… that's all real?" Bell pulled back from her and watched her with wide eyes.

"Search the internet for it some time. It would be under the name "Adhira" in Undella. You'll find proof for it there." Adalina pulled back from her daughter and looked at her longingly. "It's been a long time since I've heard of that incident, but then again, I really didn't want to tell you either. Like your father, we thought it would be best that you didn't know about that, but with everything crushing him down in shame and hate, it was hard for him to keep his emotions in check when raising you, which made you into the shy, frail girl he wanted to keep safe. But you're not that girl, you're our daughter: Isabella Adhira, and the strongest of us all. You need to live your life and discover what you're needed for in this world, and your father and I can't keep that from you anymore."

"…I'm so sorry!" Bell bowed her head as she cried. "If I'd known…"

"Then you wouldn't have left. In some ways, it was good that Marco pushed you, because now you have amazing friends as well as a beautiful life that your sprinting toward." Adalina snorted. "But I still plan to go beat it into his skull that he has to start treating you better now. Something he should have done a long time ago."

Bell hugged the woman once more before pulling back. "Thank you… Mom…"

Adalina smiled before she stepped away from her daughter. "I don't expect you to forgive him now after what he's done, but perhaps later on you may give him a chance. I taking Marco back home so he can cool off and you as well. Enjoy your journey, Love, call me whenever you feel like."

"I love you Mom!" Bell called out as the woman walked away, heading out the door and leaving. I could barely see her as the sun set grabbing her husband by the ear and dragging him away. I was surprised to see Bell smiling as she waved to them.

"So, how do you feel?" Bell jumped when she saw me there behind her, as if she had forgotten I was there the entire time.

"Piper! I'm so sorry! I forgot you were here with me…" Bell looked away. "But… I'm a bit happy. Now I know there was a reason behind this, even if it still makes me a bit angry that he did it. I understand a bit more now."

I gave her a look. "You're not going to forgive him right away, right?"

"On no! Definitely not." The girl shook her head before turning her gaze back to the door. "But I feel a lot better than earlier today. I still need time to come to terms with this. I hope that my father doesn't talk to me until then, and then maybe, I can forgive him. Even if he had a justifying reason, he still caused me a lot of pain."

"Honestly, your handling this better then I figured you would." I blinked at her in shock.

"I'm surprised too, but let's stop this conversation while I'm still in a good mood from talking with my mom." Bell smiled at me, pulling me toward where our room was. "Let's go talk about how your battle, so I can get a few more pointers! I left partway after all!"

"Sure, but you better be careful." I warned her. "Elesa's more powerful then I originally thought."

Bell smirked at me. "I figured as much, but it's no fun if it's not!"

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Holy crud… it took me long enough to get that chapter done! I'm so sorry for the late update people, life has been busy, work and family have been taking care of a lot of my time with cleaning out a lot of the stuff of my Dad's that filled up the house. We've been working on one room at a time, but it's been very hard since we have to go through** _ **everything**_ **before we can even think about getting rid of it. One room has taken us a few weeks, especially since I'm not there all the time. Goodwill had loved the donations we've given out…**

 **But I'm still alive! I'm still typing, but you can see part of the reason this one took so long! Forgive the mistakes! Some of this I wrote on my phone but I tried to correct it best I could. I also have someone given up on a chapter a week really, but I'm trying to still get them out as fast as I can. It's just hard from February to April.**

 **So, I hope you all done hate me and please leave a Review and Questions! I still love you guys and hope to hear from you soon and I hope you enjoyed your Easter and whatever other holidays you celebrate during this time of year!**

 **Love you all and see you as soon as I can!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	15. No Trust

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 15: No Trust_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

It was a good few days after our encounter with the tepig headed Marco Adhira and all that took place with poor Bell's family drama. We since taken a few days to get her mind more like her old self before we would decide to head out on the road toward the Driftville Drawbridge that would lead us to the next town, and many more places to train and become stronger.

The last day or so was spent out on the town doing fun things for Bell's sake. She loved when we went to the amusement part, for once to have fun instead of chasing evil people or running away from those that were bothering her. We were able to fix that quickly for Bell and I was happy about that. She made us ride the Ferris wheel so many times that I swore that Izzy was going to scream from insanity. Everett was so sick of fast food I thought he would hurl. At the end of each day, even I was pushed to the brink of my wits end and fell asleep practically in line, waiting for a ride. One of the boys or my pokemon would take me back once that happened.

When I finally woke up on the third day since Marco and Adalina left, I had more energy then I'd ever had before with us planning to leave that day. I nearly squealed in excitement and jumped from my bed in order to get ready and get some food for myself and my pokemon.

"Ser…?" I looked over to where my starting pokemon was standing on where she slept on the bed with me and the others. Ivy rubbed her eyes before smiling weakly at me, still somewhat drowsy.

"It's finally the day Ivy!" I sat over before her and she looked up at me with wider eyes, much more alert then. "We're finally leaving!"

"Ser!" Ivy was thrilled when she heard that news and jumped up onto my body and wrapped around me, keeping me warm as well as hugging me.

Our excitement had been a bit too much then as we had woken up the other two members of our team as well. Autumn sat up and shook herself before standing. Her fur color was changing already. As we approached winter, her fur began to darken and turn into a much more tan-grey color. This happened with all deerling as the seasons changed. If she didn't evolve before spring, her fur would turn bright pink.

My other member, Lava, uncurled herself form the little ball she was in and flexed her horns a bit before she tiredly looked up at myself. Lava yawned before curling back up into the warmth of where we all were moments ago and went back to sleep. I could only chuckle at her behavior.

"You silly," I rubbed my baby fire and bug type pokemon. "I'll let you sleep a little longer, but once I get ready, you better be ready to go you little special spoiled one."

I saw Lava give me a small smile while she curled into Autumn's side.

"Is it time to go already?" Bell yawned from the other side of our room we shared in the pokemon center. She stretched and her pokemon began to rouse as she moved, her body being their cushion to sleep during the night.

"Close Bell. I'll get ready first so you can have some time to wake up." I patted her shoulder before grabbing my day clothes and heading out to where our shower was. Bell plopped back down on the bed, her hair in a tangled mess while she dosed off once more.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Real cooking!" I cheered with my pokemon as we made our way down the path heading toward the city of Driftville. I was mostly excited that we would have a real meal today that didn't consist of fired food or something lathered in a bucket of oil and grease. My brother had more than willingly offered to cook a real meal of a berry salad, pasta salad, and sea food chowder once more. My brother didn't want us eating anything heavy to have bad side effects after all the crappy food we'd had in the last seventy-two hours. So he planned to cook lightly today, have a half decent meal at the pokemon center for dinner and then we would have another better meal the next day after our gym battles.

But seafood chowder was always good… no matter how little or much…

We were currently on the path that would lead us west to the Driftville Drawbridge. It was a small path that we'd started on only minutes prior. The only thing we knew about this route was that there was a daycare by the entrance to the drawbridge on the short path. The leaves were gone now and bare trees remained where I knew green leaves had once been. The grass was drying out, turning the tan-yellow color it becomes just as winter begins. Snow would fall soon. Rivers and ponds would freeze over. We were as ready as we would get.

"You sound like you haven't had much to eat for the last few days, or did you forget the three pizzas you've inhaled with your team?" Izzy gloated at me while I glared back.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Perhaps I did, but Ev's cooking is always the best! I would take his cooking over any fine restaurant meal any day."

"Awe Sis, you flatter me." My brother rubbed the back of his head while his face was bright with happiness from the comment. My brother could make the most evil man in the world bow before him and beg with his divine skills as a chief.

"Piper's right, Everett's cooking is the best, but I do appreciate you guys taking a few days to help me calm down after what happened." Bell smiled at us, tears once again coming quickly to her eyes since the emotions of it all were still getting to her. It was hard for her not to get emotional normally, but it seemed worse after what took place with her father. While that was still understandable, it was hard for us to adapt to since we were all worried we push her in the wrong direction.

"You know we would have done anything for you after that Bell." My brother threw his arm over her shoulders and she blushed at the contact. "I mean, that thing with your Dad was messed up, but at least you both know what's going on now and can heal from it and change. More him then you of course, you've been changing for a long time now."

"Indeed, Everett is right about that as well." Izzy smiled softly at the girl, being much more careful with his tone then before these events happened, at least for a few more days at least. "You are our closest friend. Why would we not do such events or show such kindness to one of our own that was hurting? It would be absurd otherwise."

"You said it Izzy." I snickered and turned around to face all of them with my grin. Before I could get out another word, I was surprised to see another had joined our group. "Elesa?!"

All of my friends and our pokemon turned around then to see the electric type gym leader following closely behind us, only another ten or so paces back. All of our eyes went wide as we tried to figure our when she had joined our group heading to the next town.

"Hello." The young woman waved at us before she patted the back of her zebstrika who stood next to her. "I hope you all don't mind that I joined you. I'm meeting a few people at the drawbridge."

"That's more than fine Elesa," Izzy gasped for breath as he held his heart. "You just gave us a heart attack."

All of us groaned and slid to the ground, Izzy being the only one to stay on his feel. Elesa only blinked at us all in confusion before she giggled at us, her pokemon following suite as well.

I groaned. "Well… it can't get any worse than this…"

Me and my big fat mouth…

Snow then began to fall from the air above. I felt it hit my nose as before looking up to the cloudy sky that was cutting out the sun that kept us a bit warmer as the temperature dropped more. More flakes began to fall then and Bell gasped at the sudden change in temperature.

We knew we were getting closer to the north if this was happening…

"Come," Elesa walked around our group and motioned for us to follow her. "It's not much further. There are some important figures ahead."

We all looked between each other in surprise as we watched her walking slowly down the path. We climbed back to our feet and hurried after the older woman as she continued down the path.

We didn't have to follow her long before the cries of children reached our ears. I blinked my eyes as smaller bodies came into my line of view that seemed to run around the area with adults watching them carefully. Beyond them, I could see a few more adults off to the side huddled into a group, two men and a woman.

"Ah, there they are." Elesa smiled and beckoned us to follow her further toward where the three adults seemed to stand. The eldest of them all, a darker skinned man with bright red, long hair, turned to look at us with dark eyes, prompting the others to follow his line of vision. He was covered in a heavy parka with torn white pants barely visible and sandals, even in this color weather. How wasn't he freezing?

Yet the two next to him, much younger in age, seemed to be lacking in some clothing as well. It was the female who seemed to be more without clothes then the male she was attached to on his arm. She wore indigo shorts, a strapped shirt with a heavy jacket on her shoulders and boots that came up to her knees. Most of her clothing was of purple, blue or black coloring. Her hair was long, brown like my own, but purple highlights were in them. Her similarly colored eyes focused in on us.

Her partner was more dressed then her. Opting for a much heavier coat and longer pants with warm looking boots, it made him seem more comfortable then the woman that hung on his arm. His ginger colored hair was spikey and contrasted the hazel eyes that watched us.

"Why hello there!" the older man spoke out, waving us over to him. "Elesa, you never told us you were brining friends!"

"These are some recent trainers that faced me and won my badge." Elesa turned back to gesture to us in a form of introduction. "These are the twins, Piper and Everett Theron, and their friends Isabella Adhira, and Isadore Gyan."

"Oh, so you all are halfway through your journey!" The older man seemed pleased to hear that. "That's wonderful. Allow me us to introduce ourselves. I am Alder BLANK and these are the previous and current Kanto region champions: Alex Oak and Violet Vilmos."

"It's nice to see groups of your spirited trainers like yourselves." Alex complimented us.

"I bet you all will give Alder here a good run for his money." Violet snickered.

While all of us were a bit stunned by the appearance of champions before us, Izzy was the only one who wasn't. "Champions? Out here in the middle of nowhere? Are you not neglecting your duties as champions in your own hall of fames? I mean, I understand that of the Kanto champions since they are a part of the IPHP League, but what of you Alder?"

The older man simply laughed. "No, no, I'm not neglecting any duties of mine at all. I'm on a voyage at the moment. The Elite Four take care of most challengers, but only when members come to the last of them do I need to prepare. Otherwise, I am learning about every corner of this world."

"I plan on taking that title from you." Izzy retorted back, a bit more heatedly then I bet he wanted to admit. I could understand his feelings as if the champion here wasn't taking him seriously. "I will become the champion of this region."

Alder placed a hand on his chin and hummed. "Having a goal is good and all, but have you nothing else planned for when you beat me?"

Izzy narrowed his eyes. "I plan to become stronger. I have a person who I wish to defeat and prove my strength to. I can't stop until I've reached that point."

"Hmm… become stronger… become stronger… is that truly enough of a goal?" Alder questioned our friend who continued to make things difficult for the older man. "It's not that I'm trying to say your way of thinking is wrong… however, in my travels, I've helped many people learn to love pokemon. I think that's important too."

"I do care for them." Izzy snarled. "They are my valuable friends!"

I sucked in a breath. _It's been a long time since Izzy's been this mad. Where's the camera?!_

"I don't doubt that at all, but heed me just a tad." Alder led him over to where a couple of small children were playing. "You two there! Will you battle this young man and his friend?"

Two children came running over to battle and Everett was quick to offer to help. While Alder was giving a lesson to Izzy about how to calm down, think of his pokemon, think of others around him and their feelings, the other two champions joined us three girls that remained.

"So you're Piper Theron," Violet smiled and released the arm of her partner before holding out her hand for me to shake. "I've been waiting to meet you for a while."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Meet me? You know me?"

"I've been hoping to ask you a couple questions for a while now, but it's been difficult with such little information." Violet sighed before her eyes became much more serious. "Why was that police officer after you and your brother?"

I gasped and backed away from the woman. My eyes went wide in shock as millions of through traveled through my head to figure out how exactly she knew that information. _Then again,_ as I thought about it, _it would make sense that someone from the IPHP League would have that kind of information available for her. Yet she still didn't have a lot to go on. Most information about our family and its past was destroyed or buried years ago, which meant that she was looking for more out of me._

 _But why would she want that?_ I couldn't think of a reason why she would be so interested in me, or my brother for that matter. Other than that one time in Striaton, Officer Hartley was never able to catch us. What other reason could she have for wanting to know more about us? Was our father having trouble at home? We send him home a good half of our trainer earned money to pay for the bills (which Nikki and Nick do behind his back of course, since he'd be pissed) which should cover most everything in that respect.

But then, why again would a member of the IPHP League want to collect money. She only goes after those that are evil, such as Rose Agustino. Or probably Team Plasma as well…

It clicked then. _She knew about us fighting Team Plasma…_

"I take from your silence that you'd like to know how I know that." Violet sighed and cracked her neck, which looked to be a nervous habit of hers before she faced me once more. "Alex and I bailed you out of jail in Striaton."

" _You_ bailed us out?!" My eyes narrowed then. "What do you want then? Compensation for that? I never asked that of you!"

"Easy, I don't want anything from you." Violet held her hands up in defense. "I did that because I didn't like seeing two kids getting arrested for no reason. Especially when just helping a friend."

My pokemon felt my edginess and began to growl. "Okay, so you're not after money, but you want information then?"

Violet sighed. "I'm more into this to talk to you, nothing more. If you don't want to answer my questions, then that's fine. I wasn't expecting you to anyway. I had a feeling that you were hesitant around law enforcement."

 _How did she-?_

"And what's worse is that I can't have that conversation with you because of that past. Someone hurt you, a lot. Something scarred you which then prevents you from even thinking that I could be a good person. I have more than enough reason to believe that Officer Hartley is behind most of it from how hostile the two of you are toward each other. All I wanted to do was try and help, because I do believe that you're a good person Piper, who should have never had to go through this." She paused choosing over her words. "However, maybe this is something I have to leave to you to figure out. I can't always help everyone, especially if they don't want it."

I dared step toward her, eyes narrowed. "What exactly did you want to help me with?"

"Moving you forward, removing yourself from the past." Violet didn't skip a beat as she stared back into my eyes, unafraid. "You may think you've moved past it, but many times you come back to what holds you down. Something you lost long ago and the constant haunting of what took that away."

I flinched as I heard the information. _She knows more than I thought…_

"I appreciate that you want to help me, but that battle is none of your concern." The woman seemed to bow her head a bit at that. "I need to figure that out on my own. I'm not about to wait for someone, who thinks they're on the right side, to backstab me again."

"I understand Piper, thank you for being honest with me." Violet backed off then and returned to the side of Alex and grabbed his hand. "Your strong, I know you can overcome this, and if you ever need any help. Your friends and pokemon will be there and we will be too. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it."

While the woman still made me a bit cautious, I nodded to her and back up as Everett and Izzy returned to our sides. Bell worriedly looked between myself and Izzy, and wasn't sure which of us looked more lost or miserable. My brother seemed fine for the most part, but still watched us curiously.

"I think they broke them…" he muttered to Bell.

She jabbed him. "Shh!"

I was surprised then to see great movement behind where the champions stood. The drawbridge, which had apparently been up for a boat to pass as we arrived, was dropping. It soon landed and people were able to cross. A few small children and guardians left shortly after and I raised my head slightly.

"Let's go guys, we needed to head to the next town." The others followed my lead, silent as we moved past the people who left us with more questions than answers.

 **Violet's Point of View:**

Once the children were well out of hearing rang and almost site, I turned back to the three that stood around me, giving a slight bow to Elesa.

"Thank you for leading them over to us. I think that experience was good for them." I let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm still mad as hell that she's like that, but it's her battle. I can't help her fight it unless she asks for it."

"It is fine Violet; it was hardly much of a favor to ask." Elesa replied, holding her jacket closer to her as a strong gust of wind moved past us. "I just… feel awful for those children. None of them have good pasts."

"We knew that someone would end up like this at some point Vi," Alex tried to comfort me. "It's not your fault some asshole decided to screw up her family."

"I know that, it just sucks." I clenched my fists. "The IHPH League is supposed to help others and promote justice for others to have courage to stand on their own, and yet, here we have a girl who's so hesitant just because I work with the police and bring those terrible people to justice that she thinks I'm in their same caliber. She thinks that underneath it all, I'm just the same as her."

"We all know that you're not Violet," Alder placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's admirable how much you do for those all around you. You've done more in nineteen years of life then most have done in a century. You fight for so many and have brought so many forms of evil to light, no one can doubt your heart is in the right place. However, in this case, Piper, her brother and friends have been led to believe that those who should be upholding the law are nothing but those same evils we put away."

"She's also putting off that same aura as the others have." Alex inputted. "We'll be running into her again, even if she doesn't like it. She's been facing Team Plasma, got a wrecked up family and is still trying to battle all her demons. She'll be an interesting one. She's not like the others were."

"And that's what's going to make it that much harder." I closed my eyes to try and see if I could feel Rose, but still she was silent. Not a single bit of an emotion at all. It had me worried so much. "Rose is more unstable now than ever. With Razi gone, her last thread of sanity if forever gone. She'll be trouble if we ever run into her. We have to keep those kids safe from her and let them grow. Rose making no moves at all makes me uneasy…"

"Then let's get going," Alex pulled on my hand toward the draw bridge. "We'll fly high over them to keep out of their sight to not disturb them, but we'll still be there."

"Okay." I followed after my boyfriend of six years long as he led me away. I only had a moment to wave to Alder and Elesa before we faded into the clouds that hung over the bridge.

 **Piper's Point of View:**

It didn't take us long to cross the bridge into the city of Driftville. Once the four of us arrived at the other side, we were surprised that there was a lone man standing at the entrance of the city.

He was an older man with a more cowboy style of clothing, especially with the large hat on his head. He was larger in appearance with more brown colors to his clothing, but blue pants under those riding clothes and a red shirt under as well. The scowl on his face showed more wrinkles in his face that he was a bit of an older man, but it framed well under the brim of the white hat on his head.

 _Though I had to say, he didn't look pleased to see us…_

"About time y'all crossed." The man's arms never changed and he demeanor only seemed more pissed as we got closer. "I know you kids are here for your gym badge, but I got some fish to fry here first, and you all are included."

"I'm sorry?" Bell blinked at him.

"Lowering that drawbridge allowed some Team Plasma grunts to invade my city, and I'm not pleased with that." Clay turned around and moved away from us. "Because I had to lower the drawbridge for you four, your gonna help me get rid of them. Be ready at six sharp in the morning to round up those criminals." He turned back to glare at us. "Because until their gone, I ain't battling _any_ of you."

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Oh my god… I can't believe it took me so friggin long to get out that chapter! I'm so sorry you guys who waited so long for this. I've been so busy with family, work, a promotion at work and the beginning of summer that things just have been so crazy! I also had what I heard is called inspiration high. Its like the opposite of writer's block. So many ideas are filtering through the head that I just can't write.**

 **It sucked!**

 **But anyway! I finally got out a new chapter to you guys and hopefully I can keep putting out more! But what did you guys think of Piper and Violet earlier? Much different then all of the other main characters meeting the champions or IPHP League, right? That's why I wanted to do this kind of a background, and you guys don't even know Piper's entire story yet!**

 **Hopefully you guys don't hate me and I'm going to try and get some more chapters done soon. I'm going on a trip for work to another state and I'm hoping the change of scenery will give a boost to the drive for finally getting things to work like this chapter. I'm heading out tomorrow, and I'll let you guys know a bit about it when I come back!**

 **Love you all and see you soon! Please don't hate me and send a review or two so I know how the story is going!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	16. Pushed Too Far

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 16: Pushed Too Far_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

After the short encounter that we had with Clay the previous night, all of us took up a room in the pokemon center to get ready for hunting Team Plasma in the morning. Clay was pretty infuriated when we came over the bridge, since we were the few that were allowed over besides families, but apparently some Team Plasma members had crawled on the underside of the bridge to make it to the town. Of course Clay would pissed, but it sucked that he took it out on us some.

However, hunting Team Plasma grunts was pretty fun… so I'll let it slid.

Plus if we find them, we get to battle Clay.

We were up early together in the lobby of the pokemon center right after we'd had breakfast. Our pokemon had been fed and were hovering around us while they waited on what we planned to travel to in order to find Team Plasma.

"So we know that they escaped into the city here, but we don't know exactly where they would be." Everett tapped his chin as he thought. "With Clay's members of his mine guarding all entrances and patrolling all the time, those lackeys won't be easily able to make it through. We can only assume their still in town, but where?"

"There are many abandoned buildings, mineshafts and storage locations where they could be," Izzy commented. "In this sort of situation, I believe it would be best if we split up and look over the city. Besides Clay's men, there are two places that they don't have much time to check over, that is some of the mine entrances to the northern side of the city, or the cold storage at the southern side near where we entered town."

"Where do you think would be the best places for us to go?" Bell questioned.

"I think we should split up into two pairs, with you and Everett checking out the mines. Everett does well in more rough terrain with the many varieties of pokemon he has, and half of your team does as well, it would work best for them to fight it. Piper and I will then head to the cold storage instead. We both have fire types to keep us warm and will be good training for our grass types."

"Sounds good to be, but be careful you two," Everett looked over at me while he said that. "And please stay close to him Piper. I don't want what happened before to happen again…"

"You know I'll be fine." I walked over and hugged my brother. "Izzy and I will stay very close, promise."

"You better." Everett pulled back and allowed me the space to move.

Once I was free, I walked over to Izzy and grabbed his hand in my own. He instantly went red to the tips of his ears while I chuckled at his face. "We won't lose each other this way, will we?"

"You idiot!" Izzy ripped his hand away from mine and stormed away from us toward the entrance of the building. I laughed before waving to the others as they stood in shock. I hurried after my best friend then, laughing the entire way behind him.

 _But I did have to admit… his hand felt… warm in mine…_

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

"Wow, its brisk in here..." I felt my teeth chattering as I moved forward with Izzy though the hallways. Even with my thick jacket and Lava sitting on my chest as we traveled through, it still felt incredibly cold.

Our pokemon we opted to keep in their pokeballs during this time frame just because of how cold it was. It was frozen in here. I could see the icicles hanging off the walls and boxes for perishables that were kept here as well as other items for those in town. Perhaps that could have been the ice type pokemon vanillite and its evolutions too…

 _Vanillite, the fresh snow pokemon. The temperature of their breath is negative fifty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. Thye create snow crystals or make snow fall in the areas around them. Vanillite nests are somewhat rare, due to their love for the cold. They are found year round in Driftville's cold storage while during the winter can also be found on route six and on Dragonspiral Tower._

"Stay close Piper," Izzy reminded me as we stepped further into the frigid hallways, no different than the cold winter weather outside the building. "They could be anywhere and separate us."

"I can't get much closer to you," I reminded him slyly. "Unless you wanna hold hands again?"

Izzy flushed once more, and I'm sure the cold of this place could do nothing to cool his flushed face.

The cold storage was a building to the south that was set at zero degrees no matter what time of year at was. The only nice thing about this place was that there was no wind to make it worse than that. Outside, while slightly warmer then within this building, had a gusty wind while it began to snow, making it just as terrible. Ice type pokemon were thrilled that the cold year had come and left the comforts of their icy home to explore the world outside and play with the other pokemon and humans that waited just outside the doors.

We passed by a frost covered crate a bit deeper in the building that seemed to look nothing more than white and blue in color before we heard a bang. Both of us jumped and moved closer to one another before we saw it was nothing more than a wild timbur that rushed off at the sight of us. I felt my heart pounding in my chest from the startle, but as soon as it calmed, I dared look back to Izzy to see him looking back.

We both looked down then to see how closer we were due to that little event. My eyes widened when I saw our hands holding each other's. Izzy was surprised by it too, but neither of us pulled away.

"I-its probably better if we stay closer together like this." Izzy coughed behind his free hand, looking slightly nervous.

"If you say so…" I looked away from him then only to feel a pull on my arm. I blinked as I saw Izzy pull our two hands into his jacket pocket. My eyes were wide as saucers while he kept his eyes away from mine.

"I don't plan to lose our fingers due to the cold. It just smart thinking." Izzy turned his head away from me as he began to lead us away. "Don't think much of it."

And yet, that was all I could do. Things had always been easy for me and Izzy growing up. We were rivals, best friends, always at each other throats, pranking one another with harsh words and physical battles. Yet… things were changing between us as we got older.

Some of us did strange actions to one another. It was weird. Izzy and I were becoming softer to one another. We were relying on each other more. Izzy was used to me pranking him, but that strange sudden one I did back at the beginning of our journey was the first time I did it to hide how I was feeling.

Izzy was becoming more emotional. It was strange to see him how he used to be when he was a child. Most people didn't know that as a child he was nothing but a crier. He sobbed over every little thing. Himself as a child kinda reminded me of Bell on one of her worst days.

But he hardened after he met me. I had been a wild child that was infuriated by the world and would not be taken down. Izzy was the very reason as a child that I actually was able to calm down while he took on a lot of my angry wit and sassiness. Growing up he always was sharp as a tack, rarely letting most people close other than me and some of his family.

He was losing some of that edge, only around me of course.

I was never the mushy type, but even I couldn't stop the raging feelings that were coursing through me back then or during the present. He just drew me closer being himself. I loved seeing all of his strange reactions to what I would do, yet he was just as bad to see how I would react to him when he would say certain words to me.

I couldn't stop thinking of it…

 _Did I… have a crush on Izzy?_

Quickly after the thought passed through my head did the tips of my toes through to my ears feel hot to the touch. I was thankful that Izzy was just as embarrassed as I was.

 _Oh Landerous, does he have a crush on me too?!_

It was too much for me to take at that time. I shook my head and tried to push it out of the back of my mind while we continued to walk along the marked path through the storage building. I was successful with the one exception that Izzy and I only managed to hold onto each other's hands harder.

"Wait!" Izzy's hushed whisper caught me off guard and he held me back. We hid behind an iced over crate just as we saw a grunt appear from around the corner, watching for anyone to find them.

"Looks like we found them." I grinned and turned back to Izzy who shared a similar look as me.

"Shall we then?"

I looked down to our still connected hands. "I may need that you know."

"And risk my head ending up on a silver platter when your brother finds out we actually were separated? I don't think so."

I rolled my eyes at him. "We won't be separated, but if you insist…"

Izzy nodded, more serious than before. "I do. After what they did to you in Castelia, there's no way I'm leaving you alone with them, even if I'm only two feet away. I won't risk what happened before."

His determined look caught me by surprise and I couldn't suppress the warmth the spread through me. I could only nod, submitting to his will at that moment.

"Good." Izzy nodded. I felt him squeeze my hand and we stood up. "You ready to face them?"

I nodded. My free hand grabbed at both Ivy and Autumn's pokeballs. "Always."

"I always knew you were." Izzy gave me a smile before he turned to back to see the guard to the last room of the cold storage turn his head and patrol again. That was when Izzy moved.

We hurried across the large white space to where the grunt was hidden and Izzy hurled out Pignite's ball first, who emerged and blasted fire out at the grunt. He cried out and ducked from the attack before I hurled my two pokeballs at him, calling out Autumn and Ivy.

My two grass-type pokemon hurled their bodies at the grunt and had him knocked out and to the side before he even knew what was going on. Once we had landed behind the crates with the fallen grunt did we see the rest of them, eight in number, guarding one of the sages that stood behind them all of them.

"What the hell?!" The grunts rushed to their feet to defend the sage there. "Protect Sage Zinzolin!"

"Unfortunately for all of you, we need you to leave here." Izzy remarked, using his free hand to push up his glasses. "We cannot have our gym battle with Clay until you are removed.

I grinned as I looked out over at the grunts that stood around their sage. "You'll have to forgive Izzy, he's a bit mad that you guys are preventing him from battling Clay. He really wanted that gym battle."

Izzy didn't say a word, but I felt his hand squeeze my own in his annoyance. It hurt a bit, causing me to wince. At the time though, I could hardly focus on the pain from the expression I got out of the boy who was my partner at the time. Our pokemon snickered at him, his own starter pokemon joining in with the fun while the grunts stood before us.

I then, however, narrowed my eyes at the grunts. "I can't say that I'm pleased either. I'm pretty mad that I can't have my gym battle either, so be aware." I snapped my fingers before pointing at them. "I'm going to crush you!"

The opposing pokemon that faced us mostly seemed to be lillpup and purrlion, as well as zubat and timbur. All those pokemon appeared out in droves that attacked us. Ivy surged forward to attack, hitting her marks head on with a leaf tornado. Autumn was right behind the attack, kicking away with her legs and hurling pokemon into the walls. She squealed in delight as she was able to knock them back and join at Ivy's side, standing before me.

"Coo!" I was even surprised when Lava tried to jump out of my jacket and blew fire from her mouth and them. The grunts leapt out of the way in fear before Lava cheered for her victory.

"What the hell is with those pokemon?!" a grunt screeched out.

"I believe that is more of a question for you and your atrocious deeds." Izzy eyes trailed on them, making the older men flinch from their hard gaze. "Come out, Pansage, Purrlion. Assit Pignite and take them down!"

Izzy's other two pokemon then came out of their pokeballs and rushed toward the enemies. Screams erupted into the air as the grunts were dealt with and it made me feel giddy inside, seeing them get some revenge for what happened earlier. I squeezed at Izzy's hand and smiled at him, which brought a understand grin to his face.

"So this is where they were hiding…" Izzy and I turned around to see standing there Clay, who stood before an army of miners with Everett and Bell standing to the side. We hadn't even heard them enter before the battlefield went silent as we watched the older man take control. They waved to us while Clay stopped forward. "GET THEM!"

At the bellow of the gym leader, the miners hurried right to it the invading grunts and tackled them to the ground. Many of them fought to get away, but none of them were able to escape with our pokemon standing in the way of the exit, as well as the sage they were protecting was there as well. The sage hardly moved as the men came in and manhandled his underlings. When they came to him last, he simply held up his hands as the younger men herded him away from the grunts and out the door.

Once they were all gathered, Clay turned back to us with a scowl, but looked calmer. "You kids did alright, meet me at my gym in an hour."

We stayed quiet for a moment as the man nodded to himself and walked out the door. Once he was out of the back room we were in and our pokemon gathered around, I grinned and celebrated first.

"Yes!" I pumped my fist and the others followed after me enthusiastically. It was only then that I felt Izzy release my hand and I felt myself almost turn to him in disappointment.

 _His hand had been really warm… I wanted it back…_

I shook those thoughts from my head as my brother and Bell approached us. Bell quickly hugged me while my brother patted us on the back.

"Nice job you guys!" Everett chuckled as we began to walk out of the cold storage area. "It's good to see that those assholes were taken care of."

"I'm really happy that we can face Clay now!" Bell walked forward motioning for us to follow. "Come on! We should get prepared and get a quick bite to eat!"

"I could eat after all the hunting we've done…" Izzy sighed and followed the blond girl. "A hot soup or stew sounds divine…"

As the two of them chatted over food topics, my brother pulled me back and hovered near my ear. We were pulled back behind a box while their voices became distance and our pokemon hovered around us, shivering, before being returned. Everett had a serious look on his face from what I could see. I'd always noted how strange it was to see it since he never got mad or worried often, with his carefree nature. However, this time it seemed to have a strange feeling behind it.

"Don't think I didn't see what happened back there."

I froze for only a second, but I knew my brother saw it, even as I tried to keep it cool. "What are you talking about?"

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" My brother's face then turned into a smirk. "Piper and Izzy~ sitting in a tree~"

I hissed at him. "Don't you fuckin dare-"

"Don't do what?" Everett snickered. "You're seem quite defensive with that. Should I be worried?"

My face was burning as I looked at him with embarrassment and rage. I looked away from my brother, unable to face him, and that was when his body language and face contorted.

"Oh shit." My brother's tone changed almost three octaves lower. "Piper, are you shitting me?! You _actually_ like him?!"

"Shut up!" I punched his arm while looking around to see if Izzy or Bell had come back for us, they hadn't. "He might hear you!"

"I can't believe this…" Everett rubbed his face in his hands. "My sister got a crush on our best friend… oh hell no…" His head shot up then and he looked back at me in realization. "That's why you've been acting so weird lately. You developed feelings for him!"

"I said be quiet!" I snapped back at him only for my brother to flinch at my tone and stare at my shaking figure. He let his shoulders sag as the reality hit both of us.

 _I liked Izzy…_

"There you two are!"

My eyes widened, turning toward the voice who I assumed would be Izzy and Bell returning to find us and take us out to Clay's gym. However, we were rudely wrong when we saw it was Officer Hartley once again back to get us. He rushed over the cold space to grab up and Everett sprang into action pulling me back behind him while he took the blunt of the older man's fist.

Everett was hurled to the ground, he groaned as I saw a bruise already forming around his eye where he had been hit. I quickly ran to my brother's side and helped him sit up, but not before I heard the clicking of metal as a set of handcuffs were pulled out to be used on us.

"Shit." I cursed.

 _Violet wasn't here to save us this time…_

"I think that's quite enough out of you." Officer Hartley froze as he took in a figure that walked in behind me that made him take a step back. The very woman I was thinking of was standing there with her arms crossed and a deadly look to her eyes, one that matched more of a ferial pokemon rather than a human. She walked past my brother and I to the officer who backed away in response.

"Don't think you're getting away so easily." The officer jumped and turned to see that Alex was standing behind him. He tried to move away from both of them, but he was hardly able to with the two powerful champions cornering him.

"You brats!" Officer Hartley shouted out. "Don't you see? Those kids are using you to keep them safe! They deserve to be in jail for their lives! Those rotten spawn of that woman!"

"I think you've _more_ then made your point clear." Violet's eyes glowed and her hand flashed forward in a punch that was delivered to the man. He was knocked back in a second before we saw his body fall to the floor. He crumpled over into a ball before we saw that he was unconscious.

Alex groaned, rolling his shoulders before turning to his girlfriend. "I thought I was going to punch him."

Violet shrugged. "I got the chance first, sorry babe." She turned back over to us. "Are you two alright? Ouch, that looks like a nasty black eye."

"Feels like it too…" Everett hissed as he leaned on me. "Fuck…"

"Let me see if I can do anything about that." Violet leaned down next to him, ghostly touch to his wounds before her appearance changed. Eyes red as blood, black ears shot up out of her hair, that had also turned black, and a tail. All of her new black appendages had golden rings on them that glowed. Glowing appeared from her hands of a soothing light that didn't bother either of our eyes. Her energy seemed to seep into my brother's eye and in no time, the swelling began to fade.

"This is so cool and weird all at the same time…" Everett murmured.

"You get used to it." Alex shrugged. "After all the weird things we see, this is actually more normal then you'd think."

"Ev? Piper?" Bell's voice filtered through the air and we saw Izzy and her return to where we were before Bell gasped loudly at the scene before her. "What happened?!"

"He happened…" My brother pointed at the now knocked out officer who was haphazardly laid out on the ground.

"Are you alright Everett?" Izzy came close to see him while Violet was still healing his eye.

"Yeah, Violet's taking care of it for me." He turned back to the woman. "I'm gonna live there chief?"

She chuckled back at him. "More then, you'll be sore a bit, but otherwise fine." She pulled back, the glowing gone and she turned back to normal. Everett's eye now looked finer then before, but he still rubbed it in irritation. He flinched a bit, but the pain seemed more bearable then before.

I turned to the two champions. "Why are you two hear anyway? Are you following us?"

"Actually we were following the officer." Alex walked over and grabbed the man, throwing Hartley over his shoulder before turning back to us. "Some people have been concerned about his mental health and asked us to bring him in. He's going to be mentally evaluated to see if he's actually sane to do his job and not hurt others. We can't be sure it's not only the two of you he's always trying to arrest."

"He might have hurt others?" Bell gasped, hands covering her mouth in shock. "Those poor people…"

"Like Alex said, we can't be sure if he's done this to others, its more of being cautious and not taking any chances." Violet sighed as she looked to her partner. "You ready?"

Alex merely shrugged at her. Violet rolled her eyes at the older male before he smirked back at her.

She turned back to us. "Good luck with your matches you four, battle hard."

A second later, the two of them had vanished from sight. Bell shirked at the sight while a couple of us gasped at the power that surrounded those two. When the silence afterwards hit our ears, we all turned to one another in confusion.

"I guess we should be going now…"

"Ser." I looked down at my pokemon who waited on me. Ivy wrapped her tail around the wrist of my left hand. She and Autumn proceeded to lead us out of the cold location then, ready to get a bit warmer and battle the gym leader of that town.

 **Violet's Point of View:**

"She's still all closed lipped about her past, she's been a stubborn one."

Alex looked up at me from the sack of shit he'd tied up and left in the corner of the police office. "Not all people like us Violet, some people are just bound to hate us because we work with the police. Lots of people do good things, but the police are not very truthful where they're located. We were lucky ones in Kanto with only Team Rocket, Giovanni, Rose and Razi."

I groaned, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I know but damn it, this girl is pretty cut off, and her family isn't giving much away either. There are no records of anything in the police data base, but then again, I'm sure Hartley destroyed a lot of it."

I felt a pair of lips touch my forehead and a protective arm wrap around my waist. "Wouldn't be surprised Vi."

"Champions, I've found something." An officer leading the investigation into Hartley's sanity was up in front of us. We both turned to face her as she handed over some files. "These used to be case files from a long time ago, but all public record was destroyed as well as what was in our own systems. It seemed that Hartley had been using his job as an officer to clear out all information about Ava Theron."

My eyes widened before meeting Alex's. He raised an eye brown in recognition too.

"That's the last name of Piper and Everett…" I held out my hand for the documents and they were quickly passed over. After reading over them for a moment, Alex leaning over my shoulder to read as well, my boyfriend whistled before we met each other's eyes again. "It all makes sense now! Ava's the key!"

"The key Champion Vilmos?" the officer asked me.

"She's the key to everything." I grinned at the breakthrough. "To Hartley, to Piper, to Everett, the entire family!" I looked back at the officer. "There has to be more then this in there."

The woman sighed. "You don't know the half of it…"

 **Piper's Point of View:**

"Deer!" Autumn hopped around as we walked over to our next gym battle to face Clay. She was excited in the means where she and her sister Ivy would have the advantage to the pokemon type he had, since Clay was a ground type user. Out of all of us, Bell and I would have the easier times. She had Dewott who could take most of the pokemon out herself. Then if Dewott was taken out, she still had Herdier and Munna who both were pokemon that either knew or learned ground and psychic type moves.

It would be harder on my brother and Izzy to take him on, whit the abundance of fire, flying and bug types. However, Izzy did have Pansage, so he had at least one pokemon that would give him a hand. My brother did have Krook that would help a bit, but I wasn't sure just how much.

We'd just have to wait and see.

We rounded the corner on the street that led to the large building Clay had built out of the entrance to the mines that dubbed as where his workers went along with his gym. It just made sense to combine the two instead of having two locations. Clay battled in the front where it was safer if a wall came down and his miners went down below to harvest materials and resources.

We came to see the entrance just as a fuming Clay allowed the Team Plasma grunts to walk out the door and head out to where their leader, Ghetsis, who took them away from the gym. I was shocked to see that Clay was simply just letting them go, but I knew it wouldn't have been without good reason. Besides, he must have been wedge into a corner or stuck in a political squabble. I'm sure most people weren't aware that Team Plasma was more on the evil side of things, at least the ones that we'd run into. Their boss yet had a peaceful look to his face as he marched them out of the area and off to another.

"Oh no…" Bell squirmed from her hiding spot behind Everett. "Clay doesn't look very happy… will we still get a battle with him?"

"Maybe…" My brother faltered for a second. "Maybe we should come back later."

I narrowed my eyes at them. "I didn't go through all the hassle of finding those grunts and their sage only to be told to find them again after another search."

It was at that moment that Ghetsis walked past us and then out of sight, a smile in our direction before leaving. Clay also saw us there from where we stood and motioned for us to come close with a finger.

We cautiously followed him to the front of his building before he stopped us in front of him. "Look kids, I'm grateful for your help, however, 'm sure you saw how the grunts just got let go now, right?"

"Yes, we did." Izzy replied. "They all seemed quite smug about it."

"Fuckin right they did." Clay seethed and Bell jumped behind Everett in fight. "But there ain't nothing I can do now with them gone. Violet was gonna bring in some people to help and interrogate them since she thinks they're working with Rose Agustino, but of course, under the laws and Ghetsis' ruling, they got off scot free."

"And this portrays to us how?" Izzy questioned.

"I need to blow off some steam, and you kids are some good trainers from what I've seen, so I could use some battles to help me cool off, granted, I'm gonna be a bit more aggressive than normal." He looked between us all. "Who's first?"

"Me!" I shot my hand up first to make sure he saw I wanted to be the first of the four of us. "I wanna go first. My girls are dying to get first crack at you."

"Very well." Clay motioned for us to follow him further into the gym where I could see a large set of doors that led to his battle field.

He pushed them open and I was surprised to see that there was a large field with ore minerals that he had collected that reflected the light in comparison to the darker soil and rocks. There was no way to see out anywhere else from the middle of the gym, which had glowing crystals that provided a blinding light to those that looked or that were near.

 _Cool gym style… I liked that._

"Three on three, do whatever you can to win," Clay ordered as he walked to his own side of the field. "Don't gawked too much or I'll become even more impatient."

"No problems there!" I jumped into my own battle box. "Let's go Autumn!"

"Deerling!" My grass and normal type pokemon smiled at me before she turned to face the gym leader before us.

"A wise choice, but let's see how you handle my pokemon. Go Krokorok!"

I was surprised to see a similar pokemon to my own brother's Krook on the field that was much larger, taller more than likely, and stood on its own hind legs. It still has the same coloring and eyes as a normal snadile did.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex to look it up. _Krokorok, the desert croc pokemon and the evolved form of sandile. They live in groups of a few individuals. Protective membranes shield their eyes from sandstorms and can sense the heat of objects, so it can see its surroundings even in darkness. Krokorok nests are rare and can only be found in the Relic Castle._

 _So, this is what Krook evolves into… kinda cool. Nice choice there Ev._

I smiled as I looked up at the pokemon that stood before us and took note of how the pokemon seemed to sense Clay agitation. It crossed its arms and showed a toothy snarl to us. Autumn merely just grinned at it before looking back at me with a smile to get started. She loved battling ever since she had warmed up to my friends and I, and was able to get past how those rotten children had treated her. If I ever saw them, we'd give them a piece of our minds…

"Let's start this off Autumn! Use energy ball!" Autumn grinned and cried out before she shot out the bright green ball of energy at the opposing pokemon.

"Dodge and use crunch!" Clay's shout to his pokemon made it instantly move. It nearly slithered to the ground before rushing forward on its hands and knees at us. I was surprised to see it was still good on its four legs when it clearly could walk on four.

"Run Autumn!" My deerling rushed away from the pokemon as it chased after her, slamming its jaw shut every so many seconds to startle her. "Now use jump kick!"

Autumn stopped for only a moment in her path as the pokemon approached her and she shot her rear legs up into its face. The pokemon cried out in shock and rolled backward, rubbing its bruised face.

"Bulldoze, Krokorok!" Clay's pokemon followed the orders and slammed its fists into the ground. Autumn was knocked off balance from the hit and swayed on the floor of the battlefield while the pokemon came rushing at her. "Run Autumn!"

But my pokemon couldn't run in that moment. As she tried to move away, she was forced to the ground from the earth below her constantly moving. Just as the pokemon prepared to pounce on her, she rolled to the side to avoid being hit, but that hardly meant that she was safe.

"Energy ball! Again!" Once again, Autumn hit her mark and the pokemon was thrown back with her move. It had certainly been taking damage, but Autumn couldn't land hard enough of a hit before the pokemon was back at it again.

"Swagger, Krokorok!" Clay's order rang out and the pokemon grinned before its eyes glowed red and egged Autumn on from where it stood. Autumn screeched out in anger, her own hazel eyes taking on a red glow to them as I knew her attack had been increased, but now she was consumed.

"No Autumn!" I cried out as I watched her teeter across the battle floor.

Clay snorted. "Use crunch and get it out of here."

His pokemon easily compiled with the request and closed in on my pokemon. Autumn tried to compose herself a few times, but ended up falling over from it.

I cursed before yelling louder to her, as if that would help. "Autumn! Snap out of it! Come on! Kick it!"

Something about my words must have connected then because Autumn leapt to her feet, even while being confused, and slammed her hind legs into the opposing pokemon. It cried out and was hurled from next to Autumn before landing in the wall, making a crater in the rocks, many of them falling on top of it. Autumn fell to the floor, still trying to get over her daze, but she smiled that she was able to handle that.

"Nice Autumn!" I cheered her on.

"Deer!" She cried out and suddenly her body was covered in a white light that blinded the room. We all covered our eyes as we watched my beautiful deerling evolve from a small pokemon into a larger beast. She still continued to live on four legs, but her fur was more ragged. Her little nubs for antlers grew out while large patches of fur seemed to covered her hooves and around her chest.

When the light shattered and her new form was revealed, I was surprised to see that she was a winter form sawsbuck. The new antlers on her head were a bright white color while the fur on her body was a dark brown, nearing a bark color. Her under belly was white and thicker fur pointed out from across her chest while it cascaded over her hooves below at the ground. Three small white dots were on her back as well, breaking the color pattern of dark brown there. Autumn now stood taller than myself, towering over me really to point where she looked similar in size to a rapidash and that I could ride her.

"Saws!" Autumn cried out and looked over at me with a bright smile on her face, proud of her new form.

"Autumn! You evolved!" I cheered and hurried over to her on the field. My face was only tall enough to meet just under her chin. She had grown so much…

"Ser!" Ivy leapt out onto the field as well and bounced at Autumn's feet. She barely came up to her chest and Autumn had to look down at her sister pokemon.

It honestly looked… strange…

I quickly pulled out my pokedex to see what it was that she'd become and what new moves she'd then known. _Sawsbuck, the season pokemon and the evolved form of deerling. They migrate according to the seasons. People can tell the season by looking at Sawsbuck's horns. The plants growing on its horns change according to the seasons. The leaders of the herd possess magnificent horns._ _There are no known sawsbuck nests in this region._

 _Nice…_ I grinned as I looked up at my beautiful pokemon in her new proud form. She also had a few new moves to her name which I knew she was excited to use as well as use in this battle.

"Ah shit…" I turned my head to face those watching me in the crowd and of course my brother was worried, Bell was surprised, and Izzy was pissed.

This was gonna be good…

"Alright Ivy, we gotta get off this field so we can continue the battle!" I ruffled Autumn's fur one more time. "Great job Autumn, we'll take you out for a real feast after this, okay?"

"Saws!" She nodded her head eagerly as she turned back to face Clay and we moved away to our side of the field.

Clay was noticeably not happy about the evolution of my deerling into sawsbuck and contemplated his next move. He returned his beaten pokemon without a word, most likely in his frustration with the situation of Team Plasma and myself. His pokemon never came up in the entire time that we had been celebrating Autumn's evolution.

"Looks like I may not get much relief from this battle, but I'll be damn well trying to take you down regardless." Clay narrowed his eyes at me before another pokeball was thrown out. "God Palpitoad!"

The pokemon that appeared next was one I'd never seen before. It was blue in color, mostly dark blue that stood up on two legs with a small tail coming out of its back side, however, its underbelly was tan and there were five spots on it, its shoulders sides of its head and top of its head, that were both black ringed and bright blue in color. Its larger eyes that looked blankly at us actually almost reminded me of a psyduck.

I quickly pulled out my pokedex to get information on it. _Palpitoad, the vibration pokemon and the evolved form of tympole. When they vibrate the bumps on their heads, they can make waves in water or earthquake-like vibrations on land. Palpitoad is somewhat common and can be found on route eight, Icirrus City and the Moor of Icirrus during the spring, summer and fall times._

 _So it was both a rock and water, not really the best choice against us…_ I grinned as I saw it and Autumn seemed to sense it too. This was a bad type match up, especially for my recently evolved pokemon.

"Now Palpitoad-"

"Not this time Clay!" I shouted over the man. "Autumn! Use horn leech!"

"Saws!" She cried out and raced forward, her horns turned a bright green glowing color before she slammed them into the opposing pokemon. The palpitoad screeched out as it was harmed and its health taken for Autumn's own. Autumn's wounds healed from the attack while the Palpitoad became weaker and weaker.

When Autumn took all she could, she threw the pokemon off her head to Clay's side, which had already been knocked out by the attack. Autumn grinned from where she stood and dug her hoof into the ground, as if she was ready to charge once more.

"Wow! You're so powerful Autumn!" My pokemon positively beamed at the praise she received and turned to face me. "Go on and come back for now, let Ivy have a turn too, okay?"

"Buck." Autumn nodded in understanding before she made her way over to where we stood. Once she had returned to my side, she kneeled down and sat behind me while Ivy ran out onto the field, her cute little feet hitting the ground as she raced out to battle.

Clay did not look impressed in the slightest as he saw a new pokemon come out onto the field that was much smaller than before. He looked Ivy up and down before scowling over at me.

"That pokemon is going to finish me off?" I could hear the bitterness in his voice.

I replied with a smile. "Ivy's stronger then she looks. She and Autumn battle Team Plasma all the time, as well as other trainers."

"Do _not_ lump me in with those pathetic excesses." I felt a slight bit of fear as Clay seemed to get angrier by the minute. I saw him switch out whatever pokeball he was going to throw out and knew he was going for a stronger one. "Destroy them Excadrill!"

I stepped back just slightly at the image of his last pokemon he sent out. I could tell by just the look of it that it was also a steel type, which would make the battle harder for us. Its body was large, dark brown in color with streaks of red across its torso and red dors on its arms and legs in varying places. On its hands and head was a portion of an actual drill which I'm sure made one large one together if combined.

I pulled out my pokedex a fourth time to understand what we were up against. _Excadrill, the sub-terrence pokemon and the evolved form of drilbur. It can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel strong enough to bore through iron plates. More than three hundred feet below the surface they build maze-like nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels. Excadrill nests can be found at Challenger's Cave, Victory Road and the Giant Chasm._

 _So, while we still had the advantage, we would have some trouble with the steel type half of this pokemon._ I looked up from my device to look at the situation before us. The pokemon I could feel was strong. The hairs on my arms stood up and made me well aware that he was ready for a good fight.

"Be careful Ivy, this one might prove a bit of trouble." My pokemon agreed with me out on the field before she crouched down, ready to attack. "Go! Use leaf tornado!"

"Block them!" Clay waved out his arm and his pokemon used the drills on its body to protect it from the harsh winds and the slicing leaves that came in his direction. When I saw all the leaves bounced off its steel body parts, I cursed out. "Slash!"

His pokemon came racing forward and if it wasn't for Ivy's quick reflexes, she would have been hit hard. She dodged just under the attack and flew backwards as the pokemon lunged at her.

"Ivy! Slam!" Ivy ducked into a roll and rushed her entire body into the opposing pokemon. It was thrown back, even if only for a moment before it was upon her once more. "Use mega drain!"

She stabbed her tail into the excadrill and it finally cried out when she stole its energy as her own. I smirked as I found a move that would work against it, but my small victory was short lived when Clay attacked again.

"Rock slide!" The pokemon slammed its drill like appendages into the ground. Ivy screeched and jumped backward just as the ceiling of the gym came tumbling down into massive boulders that fell all over the field.

"Ivy!" She had managed to evade the attack, but not without some damage. Her arm was hurt and she held it against her side while I saw that her head had been caught up in the attack as well, a bruise forming on her face from it by her eye. "Hang in there, girl! You can do it! Mega drain!"

"Not this time!" Clay cry echoed much louder than my own. "Bulldoze!"

"Ivy! Look out!"

At the same time as my pokemon rushed out of the way of the attack did the steel pokemon combined all its drill bits together and spun, digging into the ground and causing a minor earthquake. Ivy could only watch and wait as she tried to find where it was coming from.

"Keep moving Ivy!" She moved at my voice, just as something broke the ground. Ivy scrambled on top of one of the large boulders that had fallen earlier. Her red eyes scanned the area worriedly before the pokemon popped out of the same boulder behind her. "Shit!"

"Get it!" Clay yelled out as his pokemon took and shot its arm forward and slammed it into Ivy. She screeched out as she flew backward in the air before Autumn, Lava and I. We all watched with worried gazes at the spot she landed and she tried to climb out. "Finish it!"

"Ivy!" My scream echoed off the walls, but there was a stillness after that. The air felt heavy, and time seemed to freeze for a moment. Ivy sat with her eyes wide while she herself began to spread out over the crater she was in on the center of the field. While Clay's pokemon moved in for the final hit, she stayed and the leaves on her body began to grow and spread. They covered the crater in green before she herself began to glow white and grow in size.

"Ser!" Her voice became deeper as she grew and while she was still evolving and her tail grew out longer, she grabbed the opposing pokemon and hurled it into the ground under her tail. Everyone was at a standstill while that happened and I finally saw her become nearly six or seven feet in length, her arms and legs vanish, before the light shattered off of her in a glitter like substance onto the ground and a new pokemon stood before me.

 _Ivy evolved again…_

She reminded me of a green serviper with how long her body was. She must have been close to seven feet long, but she was closer to my height with her using her tail to sit back on herself and holder herself up. Her body was green all over, but there was gold lining to her as well, making her look much more refined, like royalty. Her nose was stuck up into the air and was ghostly white, along with the rest of her face other than the green that snaked its way around her eyes. Her eyes were still the same rich red color they always were, but they held more authority now than they did before. Four pieces of her skin ran off from around her neck to create a sort of collared look to her in the color of rich green and bright gold. The leaves on the end of her tail and along her body looked soft, I wanted to reach out and touch them, to pet her smooth skin and the soft leaves.

But I bet they weren't so soft in the middle of battle…

"Ivy, oh my Landrous, you evolved!" She turned to face me with a smile and a nod before Autumn jumped up to greet her sister in her new form. I grabbed onto Autumn's antlers to hitch a ride across the field before we ended up before her. I quickly pulled out my pokedex again (I couldn't believe I'd used it five times that day and in one battle) to see what information I could gather on her. _Serperior, the regal pokemon and the evolved form of servine. It can stop its opponents' movements with just a glare. It takes in solar energy and boosts it internally. They raise their heads to intimidate opponents but only give it their all when fighting a powerful opponent. There are no known serperior nests in this region._

"Wow Ivy, you're a royal, scary pokemon now for anyone who we battle!" I giggled at her and she nodded her head, coming to rub hers against mine for a moment before turning back to her opponent. Ivy gave a board look to the pokemon who struggled to stand and turned red at her lack of enthusiasm as there had been before she evolved.

"I hope you still plan to battle, little grass pokemon." Clay looked unimpressed by my pokemon. "If you want my badge that is."

Ivy narrowed her eyes, and in an instant, the pokemon she was facing froze up from her glare. Even Clay had to take a moment and compose himself at her gaze. That ghostly face with such powerful eyes made it hard to keep eye contact when you were against her.

I patted her side and she turned back to face me, her expression changed entirely. "Let's finish this up Ivy. We need to celebrate and get more training in after this. Right?"

"Serperior…" Ivy's voice was so silky, I couldn't help but feel special when she spoke to me now. She then caught me by surprise and lifted me with her tail onto Autumn who turned around and led me back to my battle box. Once I was safely there, Autumn sat down to make it easier for me to get off, not used to having to jump from that high, and prepare to battle once more.

"Let's finish this then Ivy, show them your new strength!" I grinned as I watched the pokemon still froze, who Clay couldn't sway out of its daze. "Leaf blade!"

"Ser!" My pokemon held her head high as her tail grew and turned bright green, glowing, and she took off to the other side of the field. Just as she approached did the pokemon realize how close she was, trying to scramble away, but it was too late. Ivy hurled her tail into the opposing pokemon which in turn shot it into the wall behind Clay and knocked it down with debris falling all around him. Clay looked beyond shocked before he turned back to face my starting pokemon. She wasn't pleased with the battle, but happy that we won.

Her newly evolved form was scary… but so, so cool!

"We did it!" I turned Autumn next to me while Lava tried to worm her way out of my jacket to crawl on Autumn too. Ivy soon joined us and we became a massive pile of bodies as we were hugging one another in happiness for another win as well as two evolutions to add to my team.

"I should have known it would end up like this if I wasn't careful…" I turned my head to Clay who sighed from the other side of the field. He returned his pokemon and began his walk over to my team and I. "You did good out there, Piper Theron. I shouldn't have been like I was, but I know you understand. So, let me give you something for the grief I gave you."

I was then handed me his own badge. It looked like two wedges of earth that were broken in half in the middle and sliding apart, like an earthquake. Outlined in a golden metal, I looked back to Clay for clarification.

"It's the quake badge, now your down to needing only three, right?" I nodded to him. "Head to Mistralton next, Skyla will battle you. But if you only have those grass types, you'll be in more of a pickle then facing me. She's a flying trainer."

I nodded to the man before standing from my pokemon. I should have known that some other type that would be an advantage over me would be next. Perhaps it was time to see if I could expand my team for more verity. I was going to get them killed if I didn't find other types besides grass and bug.

"I'll do just that." I held out my hand for him to shake. "Thanks for the battle Clay."

"Don't thank me for the hard work you put it and dealing with my shit." He turned to my friends in the crowd. "Now who am I battling next? I hope she isn't the only good battler here."

Many shouts of disagreement came at Clay before Bell suck her way down to battle next. I laughed as the guys shouted things at each other, not knowing that she would battle next, or had escaped them. I wished her good luck and moved out of the way, fifth badge in hand.

Only three more to go…

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Okay, that took far too long to write! I want to apologize for those who still are loyal readers who have been begging me to update recently. It's been beyond crazy this summer and I've noticed that most of the summer and around Christmas, I have absolutely no time to my name. And it sucks!**

 **But I've at least got this new chapter done for all of you, I actually had it mostly done a while back, but of course things got in the way so I couldn't put the ending on it and get it posted. But now it's hear and I'm gonna try and race to get another chapter written here soon because I owe you guys quite a few. But I still plan to keep writing, don't you all worry. I'm just trying to juggle my adult life with work and family.**

 **Please don't hate me and send a review my way! And I'll be working on getting the fifth story's character profiles up when I get out of work today guys, so don't worry! Love you all and see you as soon as I can!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


	17. A Choice

_Pokѐmon Journey V: Piper's Quest_

 _Chapter 17: A Choice_

 **Piper's Point of View:**

As the darkness left my vision from the good night's sleep I'd had, I stretched out on my bed with my pokemon crowding around me. Ivy had taken up residence half on and off my bed, curled up next to me with my head cushioned by her tail. Autumn slept to the side of the bed with her head on the bed, nuzzling into the side of me. Lastly was Lava who was curled up on top of Ivy's body before my face. I could feel the fuzz of her coat touching my face and almost made me sneeze.

I sat up on the bed, moving it slightly but the others hardly stirred at my movement. I tip-toed over to the bathroom to do my business before I came back and noticed that Bell was awake as well. She had sat up in her bed and leaned against her newly evolved Dewott into Samurott. She had evolved during the battle with Clay the day before, which had made Bell ecstatic. Bell had her entire battle only done with Samurott.

Samurott had grown quite large in size, enough that a couple of people could use her for crossing the ocean if needed. Her body was now a rich dark blue while she moved on all fours now, flippers being her feet. Armored platting was on her chest as well as her shells on her sides became like rows of armor on each appendage. A beautiful golden shell was atop of her head while white, long fur streamed from her chin.

 _Samurott, the formidable pokemon and the evolved form of dewott. One swing of the sword incorporated in its armor can fell an opponent. A simple glare from one of them quiets everyone. Its cry is enough to intimidate most enemies. There are no known samurott nests in the region._

"Bell?" Said girl lifted her head from where she was sitting on her bed. She looked up at me with a soft smile.

"Good morning Piper." She stretched her arms over her head while she yawned. "I hope you slept well after your impressive win yesterday."

"Of course I did, but it looks like the others need a little longer." I snickered as I looked back to my other teammates as they slept behind me. "But before long, I imagine that we'll be heading out, shortly after breakfast and lunch." I drooled a little bit at the thought of food. "But if we get Ev's cooking for any meals, I most certainly can't complain."

Bell sighed. "You always have food on your brain, don't you?"

"Hey!" I pouted at her. "My brother makes a damn good meal and you know it!"

She chuckled quietly. "That I do. And he does."

She then got quiet for a moment. It was unlike her to be this for any period of time. When Bell got quiet, something was steaming below that she wasn't saying, and it was often myself or Everett to ask her what was wrong.

"So what's eating you today?" I sat down next to her on her bed and spoke in a quiet voice, trying to let our pokemon sleep even a bit longer. "Bad dream maybe?"

"Sort of…" Bell took in a deep breath before she looked at me with watery eyes. "Am I not strong?"

"You? Not strong? After the way you battled Clay yesterday?" I shook my head at her. "There's no way you don't have at least some power. Look how easily you took him down with only Samorott! And she was the only one you had to use; Ev and Izzy were all over the place with type disadvantages."

"That may be so, but I don't feel strong." Bell looked away from me and riffled with her hands. "In my dream, Munna was gone. I just… couldn't find her…"

I sat quiet as I listened, she needed that. Sometimes she needed me to be upbeat and cheering her on, other times, she needed me to just be a great friend and listen to her. It varied depending on the time, but this was rare for us to have much of a heart to heart chat.

"And I couldn't find her no matter where I looked, and it then made me think back to when she was kidnapped. I couldn't let go of that fear from all that time ago. …I think she was trying to help me at some point in the night, but the memories of her gone made her stop. She was scared too."

"It's okay to be scared Bell, we all get scared." I reminded her with a one-armed hug from the side. "I nearly lost Lava as a baby, I was kidnapped, I get exactly what kind of primal fear that sends you into a frenzy. It's scary, and there's not much you can do about it sometimes other than try to make yourself stronger and be brave for them, because if you're afraid, then there's a good chance they are too."

Bell took that moment to look back at Munna. She was resting for the moment, seemingly peaceful, but there was a good chance she was still very fearful of what took place too. She was crying for days from what I remember during those early nights after her kidnapping and Bell screaming like a banshee to get her back as well as lead us to where those jerks were who took her.

"Why don't we do this then?" I patted her shoulder and she looked up at me. "Let's go get some training in! We'll head into the cave next door, the Chargestone Cave, and we'll get some awesome training done, to give both of you some more confidence."

She looked hesitantly to the door. "But what about the guys?"

I snickered at her. "Don't worry; I'll leave them a note."

Bell laughed nervously at me. "Your 'note' doesn't sound like a note…"

I waved her off. "Don't worry about the details! Let's just enjoy a girl's day and some good old fashion training! Let's go get some breakfast and then we'll head out."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Wait, you already did something to them, Izzy is who I mean, didn't you?"

My grin didn't falter. "That's a good question, who knows? Maybe Ev decided to prank him and use me as the scapegoat. It would make sense if he ever did. I do it enough."

"Or you both worked together to prank him and he's in on it, recording the reaction for you." Bell knew me better than sometimes I'd like to know. But I kept up my face at her while she sighed. "Oh well, I'm sure there's little I could do now if I wanted."

I giggled at her. "Just about. So, breakfast?"

"I could use some food, now that you've pulled me out of my emotional mindset." She and I stood and looked to our pokemon, all asleep. "Let me just leave them a note so they don't panic while we're gone."

"Way ahead of you."

 **Everett's Point of View:**

I snickered as I waited for the good lords to take their luck at my sister's and my fun. She had been in a good mood this morning, from the detailed prank that sat before me. She had planned it all out and asked that I put it into effect and see how Izzy would put up with it before we left.

Sounded simple enough, and the camera was on too for good measure later.

Izzy had not woken in the time that we'd been here, sleeping in for once, or making up for what he lost from the night prior from staying up too late with some books he was researching through. He still liked to read, that never changed with him. But I could only say that was a good quality about him, besides his dedication.

 _Thinking about that…_ I lifted my head as I thought back to his determination as he stayed and protected my sister. Piper had a crush on him… I wasn't sure how to handle that, but what made it worse was that also I had no idea about how he felt about her. He was always very snippy and the two of them always fought, but they've soften, even I've noticed that. It was strange, but I was glad that the two of them were getting along, or so.

That didn't mean I was incredibly pleased about it though. It meant breaking up the little routines we put on quite often, not to mention, if Dad _ever_ got wind of this…

None of us would survive…

"Mnn…" I sat up a bit more as I saw Izzy moving about on his bed. He shifted a bit, his arm moving around limply to find his glasses that rested on the table next to him. Once he had them in hand, he pulled them to put them on his face and sat up groggily to head over to the bathroom. My eyes widened as he didn't even see the prank before him as he stumbled away from his bed and went right to the bathroom, closing it quietly behind him.

I looked down to the plastic covered floor. _He was pretty fricken graceful when he wasn't awake._

"What the hell is on my feet?!"

I jumped into the air as he slammed the door open and rushed out of the bathroom, slipping on the material on the ground. The brown slime that was there caused Izzy to shoot forward on his feet before he ended up slamming his body into his pokemon who had stayed sleeping the entire time, his emboar. It had evolved during yesterday's match, as well as a few others of our pokemon.

 _Emboar, the mega fire pig pokemon and the evolved form of pignite. It can throw a fire punch by setting its fists on fire with its fiery chin. It cares deeply about its friends. It has mastered fast and powerful fighting moves. It grows a beard of fire. There are no known emboar nests in this region._

Once he hit off of his pokemon, he ended up behind hurled forward back toward the bathroom, but this time toward the bundle of feathers that were neatly wrapped up in a blanket, only loosely. Izzy screamed as he was hurled into it and feathers shot out all over the room. Most of them hit Izzy head on while some made it as far back as myself and Ruff, who were the only one awake at the moment, watching the show.

I chuckled. "Nice aim Iz."

He whipped his head around to face me, however, he couldn't see because of the dark slime materials and features that covered his glasses and had gotten all over his face. He tried to stand up, but he slipped over on his feet, having no balance without ground to grip, and fell back down.

"You were a part of this, weren't you!?"

I held my hands up in surrender. "Hey, I just found the room like this a while ago, why do you think that I haven't gotten up from bed. I'm not dressed yet."

 _It also helped that my sister made sure to tell me what was going on before she went to bed. …Well… at least part of it._

"Damn her!" Izzy hit the ground with his fist, but that also caught up on the mess on the floor. I had to hold in my laughter as Izzy fell over once more. He narrowed his eyes at me and suddenly I felt my laughter disappear and fear take its place in my stomach. "Don't laugh."

"Sorry, sorry." I grinned at him despite my fear of the ravenette. He was certainly one you didn't want to piss off and have him lash out at you verbally. It certainly hurt more than a fist could…

Izzy sighed and attempted to clean his glasses with the part of his shirt that was semi-clean. "I assume the girls then must be waiting on us?"

"I guess?" I shrugged at him. "I have no idea other than that this was happening. But we'd better get this cleaned up before we leave. Nurse Joy will have our heads otherwise."

" _You_ can clean this up." He snarled at me. "There's no way I plan to let you escape this onslaught when you knew about it or found out about it before me."

 _Well shit._

Izzy crawled his way back into the bathroom, his bag in hand to assist him with getting clean. Once the door was closed, I dared to look down beside me where Piper must have purposefully left up a flap of plastic to pull up this mess, so I could avoid it. For that, I was grateful…

"Well, let's get this over with…"

 **Piper's Point of View:**

Once our bellies were filled and our pokemon awake (fed too), Bell and I took the route to the northwest and made our way into the Chargestone Cave. It was a cave electrified by lighting and crystals were all around the location, glowing a light blue color and floating. It was naturally lit from the storms that powered the cave. It wouldn't be too dark in there to handle everything.

"Let's go Lava, use ember!" My little fire pokemon spat out the flame to one of the jolticks that were in the area. With it being bug and electric type, it fell easily to Lava's attacks. The pokemon ran as soon as it was hit, disappearing into the depths of the cave. "Nice!"

"Coo!" Lava curled up next to my foot before I picked her up into my arms.

She was getting stronger all the time and it wouldn't be long before I would be incorporating her into my battles. She was excited to be a part of them, at the same time as growing and understanding. She understood more of what I was telling her now and was moving about the world more on her own. My other two pokemon have made it a habit to keeping an eye on her twenty-four-seven with the exception of when she slept. It was hard, and she was energetic, but it was worth it to see her happy and active.

"Bell!" I turned to see how my friend was doing with me in the caves. "How are you holding up?"

"Great!" She cheered as her pokemon took out another joltick that had closed in on us before scurrying away. Her pokemon that faced them was her herdier, but it had evolved in the earlier hours since we'd been here. It was now a stoutloud, a much larger pokemon that Bell could ride on the back of. He was incredibly quick, shockingly for his size, and his nose knew no bounds. He had it sniffing everyone as he had evolved and loved to just smell… It was a bit weird, but we were slowly adapting to it. His fur now was much longer and flowed down to the ground, his colors had not changed, the only large difference was that he had large patches of fur that fell from his face all the way to the ground.

 _Stoutloud, the big-hearted pokemon and evolved form of herdier. It rescues people stranded by blizzards in the mountains. Its shaggy fur shields it from the cold. Being wrapped in its long fur is so comfortable that a person would be fine even overnight on a wintery mountain. Stoutloud nests are rare and can only be found on route ten._

"Nice!" I cheered her on with Lava in my arms, also cooing at Bell. We grouped back together after training in the tunnels and soon made it to a point where we gathered by a large glowing crystal for a snack. It was tiring to train for such long periods of time, but so worth it when we actually went out and battled.

Bell and I sat next to each other while our pokemon ate before us. Munna had offered to keep watch with her psychic powers to sense those that were around us. She had already eaten and more interested in the glowing crystals then more food like some of us were.

"Oh that really hit the spot!" I grinned in glee as I looked over my now empty bowl of food Everett had made the night before. He'd made us some berry salad as well as chowder, not to mention the homemade fried pickles and leftover meat from the night before. We had packed a feast of food that I was more than happy to dive into.

"It certainly did." Bell had her team gathered around, with the exception of Munna, while everyone dived in for food. "Once we finish up here, which way do you think we should go?"

"Hmm…" I held a hand to my chin before pondering to the tunnel on the right side of us. "Let's go that way then, I can feel a bit of breeze coming from it and its well-lit, so we won't get separated."

"That sounds good." Bell nodded her head to me and we quickly finished up our meal before heading down said path. Our pokemon were returned other than one each for the small area. Lava sat in my arms while Pansear was hanging off of Bell's shoulder.

We walked for a long while without encountering any pokemon. The pathway was long and seemed almost endless as we passed by. The only thing pushing us forward was the strong winds and the glowing crystals.

Bell and I made it a good way down the pathway before I stopped, holding Bell backed as I saw something was in the way of our path up ahead. There was a man in a black colored outfit that hid his body and figure, with the exception of the wild blue hair that was frizzed on the top of his head.

"Who is that Piper?" Bell whispered to me, holding close and holding onto my arm.

I backed up slightly and pushed Bell back behind me to keep her away from this guy. "I don't know, but I got a bad feeling about this…"

Much hunch was soon proven right. The man darted forward at us and before I knew it, Bell was ripped from my gripped and hurled back. I raced to look behind me and grab her, but she had been thrusted back by two other males that were dressed the same as the one who ran at me.

"Bell!" I reached out for her, but the three men grabbed me and shortly after, we had vanished to a new spot in the cave. I could vaguely hear Bell screaming for me off in the distance, but she wasn't nearly as close as she was before.

"King." The man uttered a single word while restraining me before releasing me and bowing before as someone dared to approach.

I pulled back from the men and held Lava close while both of my other two pokeballs opened. Ivy and Autumn screeched and hissed out at the men around us. Autumn had me climb up onto her back while Ivy paced around us, creating a barrier she dared for the men to cross.

Just as soon as they had appeared, they vanished again without much more that that word they uttered. They had said "king"…

I raced to turn my head and looked back to see that the one approaching me was N. He stood there, partly hidden by the dark and watching my pokemon with such a happiness as they snarled and threw dirt at his face.

"It's so wonderful to see you pokemon so lively." N stopped only a few feet away from us, just enough so that Ivy didn't try to cut him in half with her tail. "My apologies if the Shadow Triad have treated you unwell, but I needed to speak to you once more to see if you had made a decision on what we had spoken of."

"If I would be your queen?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yes." His smile never wavered as he looked at me. "You have been chosen, Piper, did you know that?"

I blinked at him. "I don't understand. Didn't you choose me?"

"No, no, let me rephrase." He held a hand to his chin as he thought about how he would tell me. "You have been chosen by those above us all to do great things Piper. I did not choose you for that, other beings have chosen you. I only asked you to be my queen so we would be on the same side. The side of pokemon."

"That doesn't tell me a whole hell of a lot…" I muttered and looked away from him, hiding almost behind Autumn's horns. When I couldn't hear Bell's cries anymore, my eyes widened. "Where's Bell?"

"Just further ahead, you'll see her momentarily." N chuckled at me. "I told Ghetsis about you and your friends. After I did, he apparently used the Shadow Triad to find out about you. Izzy is pursuing the ideal of strength. Poor Bell has faced the sad truth that not everyone can become stronger. Everett seems to fall in-between of caring too little or too much, while you have a balance about you. Not swayed in too many directions other than the constant protect and love of you pokemon. Both him and I are interested on how you will turn out at the end of your journey."

"N, you're talking in riddles." I narrowed my eyes at him. "I've been kind and listened to you talk about your desires, but you still have left me too much in the dark to make any decision."

N hardly faltered as I spoke. "So, you need more information before you can decide?"

"Yes."

He opened his arms as if waiting for me to fall into them, but I remained on Autumn's back. "Ask and you shall receive Piper. The only request I ask for you to fulfill prior to me telling you is following after me. I will wait in the depths of this cave on your way to the exit, up ahead. Do come find me. I enjoy listening to the voices of your pokemon."

Before I could ask another question, one of the Shadow Triad appeared next to him and touched N's shoulder, forcing the two of them to vanish as if we were experiencing teleportation before our eyes. Once N was gone, I could breathe again.

"Bell!" I called out after breathing a moment to myself. "Bell! Can you hear me?"

"Piper!" My head whipped around to see her rushing toward me once she saw I was around. She was on the back of her starter pokemon, she carried her so that she wouldn't be thrown around again.

When she came close, Bell jumped off her pokemon and met me between our pokemon. I had hopped down myself to hold her close to me in fear we would be separated again. She held me just as tightly, poor pansear stuck between the two of us.

"Piper!" Bell sobbed into my shoulder. I held her just as closely as the fear that raced through me started to finally vanish. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried when they took you away! What on earth happened?!"

"Team Plasma happened." I sighed. "Some higher ups in their group, the Shadow Triad, were the ones that took me. I…" I hesitated for a moment before I told her. "I met their king…"

"Their king?!" Bell gasped. "What did he want? What was he like?"

"Confused…" I groaned and backed away a bit so Bell could see my mentally torn face. "He wanted something from me, but I couldn't give him a clear answer with the way he was talking in riddles. He wants to meet up deeper in the cavern to talk to me again…"

"Then let's avoid that way!" Bell cried out as she pulled on my arm. "He'll kidnap you again!"

"We don't have a choice Bell." I sighed and pointed to the road ahead of us that led to the next town. The path was still wide and bright, but now we were hesitant to move with how quickly the Shadow Triad took me before. "The only way to move onto the next town right now is through the cave, and to back track, I'm sure there are members waiting for us to be ambushed. We have to do this his way… for now."

She shook her head at me and raced to find her xtransceiver. "I'm calling the guys, we'll need help!"

I looked at her softly and covered the device on her arm. "There's no signal here Bell. We won't be getting a hold of anyone until we get out of this cave."

"We're… on our own?" Bell looked around nervously before she focused on me. "But I'm not strong like you! I can't keep you safe like Everett and Izzy can!"

"Bell, stop that!" While I didn't hit her, the sound of my hands slapping together in front of her face seemed to catch her attention. "You are strong Bell, but you're not going to be if you keep putting yourself down. Maybe you're not _as_ strong as me or the others, but that doesn't mean you don't hold any strength at _all_."

"Piper… I'm scared…." She clung to me and her pokemon watched on in sadness of her fear. It had been a while since I'd seen her so afraid. Not since Munna's kidnapping.

"It's okay Bell, we're going to do this together." I took her hand tightly in mine and we both walked back over to where Autumn stood. "Neither of us is going alone. We'll stay together on Autumn while Ivy and Samurott keep us safe. Okay?"

"Okay…" Bell slightly calmed down slightly and Autumn laid down for us to sit on her back. Bell sat in front of me while Ivy and Samurott looked around; making sure it was safe before we proceeded forward.

 **Everett's Point of View:**

Izzy and I were dressed and had the room cleaned up in no time once he was awake and in a more forgiving mood. We headed to the lower half of the pokemon center to grab some breakfast and wait for the girls, but once we had eaten all of our food did we notice that they still hadn't joined us. While Piper was known to sleep in and maybe forget to come down, Bell was not. This was strange for her not to be here with us and it just being Izzy and myself.

"I wonder what's taking them so long…" Izzy muttered from across from me. We both had been sitting in silence for a while. Some of it was just out of respect as we stuffed our faces with breakfast; the rest was just waiting for the girls. Probably another part was Izzy's anger that he was holding in for Piper along the way, but I could only speculate. Izzy could be difficult to read when he wanted to be.

"It's kinda strange that they've been gone so long. I sent them a text just before our food got here." I muttered and looked over at my xtransceiver to look for a reply. A strange note was there now, blinking at the bottom of its screen. "What the hell?"

"What is it Everett?" Izzy looked up from his book he had in his hands to see me pull up my xtransceiver. When I pulled up the blinking icon, it noted to me that the messages I tried to send Piper and Bell didn't go through. "What? But their right upstairs!"

"Unless…" Izzy held a hand to his chin before he shot off like a pidgeot into flight and sprinted up the stairs.

"Izzy! Wait up man!" I hurried after him only for him to be standing in front of Piper and Bells' room that seemed to have a note attached to it. We weren't able to get rooms next to each other the night before, so we hadn't even bothered to go by their room. It was a bit out of the way as well from where the stairs and food was when we first woke up.

 _Izzy and Ev,_

 _Bell wasn't feeling so good today about her battling skills and had opened up to me. Based on that, we left this morning around eight to go and train in Chargestone Cave. We took the lunches that we're prepared for us as well and will probably meet up with you guys on the other side of the cave in Mistralton. See ya!_

 _Piper_

After a glance at the paper and then a look over at our xtransceivers, we noticed that the time now was almost eleven. We were three hours behind them.

"Damn that Piper…" Izzy muttered. "It wouldn't have hurt for her to leave a text or something more obvious around those lines…"

I chuckled nervously. "You know my sister's not likely to do that right?"

Izzy held his head in his hands as he angrily messed it up, frustration leaking out of him in waves. Once he was done with his little moment where he wasn't poised, he turned to me, arms lowered and a determined position to him. "Let's get moving then. If we hurry, we can catch them before they exit the cave if their plan was to train in there."

I shrugged at him, ready to follow regardless. "Whatever you say Iz."

 **Piper's Point of View:**

Bell and I hung closely to one another as Autumn walked through the cave, Ivy and Samuott pacing around us to make sure that we would not be separated again. Bell may have sat in front of me, but she was petrified of the entire encounter. Her eyes remained close and her hands clutched mine that were wrapped around her waist. I could feel her shaking, and I felt like shit for not being able to help her.

Even so, we trudged through the cave and N's words were heavy on my mind. He promised to tell me more of what he planned to do for this new world to see if I would join him, but there was a heavy weight to either side of the argument.

On one side, staying with my family and friends was the more likely of the options. N I knew had a good heart and wanted to do right by pokemon, however, he was going about in too many ways wrong. He's allowed others to steal pokemon, hurt others and cause my friends a lot of grief. I could really speak to helping N, but I didn't know if I could forgive what he had done to those that mattered to me.

On the other hand, should I agree to help him and leave my friends for a while, perhaps I could put him on the right path, set him and his organization truly on the right path to help pokemon. He'd mentioned once before that he wanted to help them become perfect beings. What did he mean by that? Did he mean to help pokemon after being abused, or save them from it entirely? It made me worried with just how much he wanted.

Many of his ideals, while beautiful in context, were absolutely impossible.

There were so many people out there that would always be there to hurt others, not differently than saving them. People were just as bad as some pokemon could be, and vice versa. Each of them had good and bad qualities about them, there was no reason to think otherwise. I was the best I could be for Ivy, Autumn and Lava, but that didn't mean that I wouldn't have issues down the line, like if we got into a fight with one another. What if we said mean things to each other. What if we hurt one another. Nothing's a guarantee.

I was awoken from my thoughts when I felt Autumn come to a rough stop, Ivy and Samurott hissing into the air. Both Bell and I lifted our heads to look over and see a member of the Shadow Triad standing before us, approaching slowly.

"Enough!" The man stilled as he looked into my rage filled eyes. "I will not be separated from her this time, lead me to him. But come close and my pokemon will unleash their fury onto you and your other members."

A few moments passed before I saw the man nod ever so lightly at me. With that said, he turned and began to lead me down deeper into the cavern, only stopping to make sure I was following him.

I looked around the nervous Bell to see Autumn look back up at me in question, waiting for the go ahead to follow him. I nodded to her. Once Autumn saw that, she began to walk forward once more, much more curious to the area around her and her gaze glued to the man before us.

"Ser!" Ivy hissed out and turned around, her eyes narrowed and watched as the others of the triad appeared behind us. Bell cowered in fear before me and I had to hold her to prevent her from falling off of Autumn.

"You two!" I snapped and the men looked up at me. "Get with the other leading us, or so help me, you'll be Ivy's next meal!"

" _Ser_!" Ivy hissed out, her tail whipped out in front of them which they jumped back from. After the display of her strength, the men vanished and appeared next to their partner before us. They all gathered and led us further into the depths of the cavern. We passed by many of the charged rocks that we had seen earlier on in the entrance of the cave.

The Triad stopped suddenly and bowed before taking off in many directions. Bell hid her face into my shoulder while I looked on, my pokemon stopped with Samurott too before I saw him appear.

 _N…_

"I see you decided to join me here, Piper." A smile was on his face, despite the scowl I showed. "Please do not be angry at me, you and I share the same ideals. I had to speak with you. Though I was hoping for an audience with your pokemon rather than your friend Bell."

"I didn't like how you had your men separate her from me; I will not let that happen again." Bell lifted her head from my shoulder, twisting her body around the correct way to see that it was N before us. Her fear, while still there from the shaking I felt from her, became more shocked then anything.

"N?" Bell questioned softly. His face contorted slightly as he glared at her, focusing then on myself rather than her. "You're this king? You kidnapped Piper all that time ago? How could you do such a thing…?"

"I don't need to explain myself to the likes of you." N narrowed his eyes at her, his voice sharp like a knife.

I growled at him. "Don't talk to her like that N, or I'll be walking out and won't listen to you."

N's face softened, disappointed at that. But he hardly got a moment to speak before Bell spoke up to me.

"Why are we even here in the first place?" Bell questioned as she turned to meet me. "Let's just go Piper!"

I shook my head at her. "I can't Bell, not yet…"

"Why?!" Bell struggled against me and tried to move away, but I held her in place due to fear of being separated.

"Don't do that Bell, what if you get lost?" She stilled at those words, but she didn't look at me. "Bell, listen, we're just going to hear him out and then we're going. That's all, okay? I promise."

She didn't respond to me, but she moved her head out of the way so that I could look at N who stood there. His face was emotionless until we met eyes and he smiled once more.

"Explain to me, N, what you have planned."

He bowed his head. "That was my intention from the start." He looked at me but a moment longer before gesturing to the space around him. "We are in a world of grey Piper, no longer is it black and white. We are mixing, something that I cannot agree with."

"Do you mean humans and pokemon interacting?" He nodded, his face much stonier then before. "Do you plan to try and separate them?"

"Yes, that is my ultimate goal to free those that have fallen in this world. Humans are making pokemon imperfect, they make them suffer and ruin them. They should be separated like the colors of black and white and no longer should we be together."

"Do you even know how many years of growing together with pokemon you're trying to separate?" I questioned him worriedly. This was getting much more serious than anticipated. "We've all been together for hundreds of years. I don't even know if that's possible any more N. And regardless of if it's a possible outcome or not, people wouldn't agree with that anyway." My eyes narrowed to him. "I wouldn't agree with that. I love my pokemon too much to subject them to that."

N's face faulted after that, yet he managed to keep a small smile on his face. "I knew you wouldn't agree. While we hold similar ideals in mind, you do not have the strength in your heart to release those you love so that they may become perfect beings. I don't dare challenge you now, being a trainer leaves such a bad taste in my mouth and I know you're much stronger than myself. I need the power of the legendary pokemon in order to achieve my ideals, and also to make sure that I win and that you don't."

I refused to blink while his smile never faltered, yet he looked like a child who was putting on a brave face for a friend who was being taken away from them.

"This will be the final time you see me for a while Piper. Should anything happen to your friends, be warned that that problem is one you placed on their shoulders. You should have agreed for more time with your loved ones before they would be free."

Before another word could be spoken, one of the Shadow Triad came to N and touched his shoulder, the two of them vanished instantly. It was so heartbreaking to see him go. I knew N only wanted what was best for pokemon, but he didn't realize just how terrible a price he was setting himself up for.

He was in for a rude awakening…

"Piper?" Bell turned back to me; she looked much calmer now with N gone as well as the members of Team Plasma. However, she still held some fear in her eyes and voice. "What are we going to do?"

"Let's get out of this damn cave." Bell didn't argue with me as Autumn began to move once more, carving a path to the exit.

 **HalloweenWitchHalloweenWitch**

We walked for another hour before we finally saw light appearing at the end of the tunnel before us. Bell and I were silent the entire time with our pokemon keeping us safe. They were constantly on alert to see if any other members would show up, but it was honestly just us with the occasional trainers that challenged us. We would face them, but it hardly made us feel much better after being held against our will and to deal with N and his erratic ideals.

I felt so mentally torn after all that I'd gone through with Bell in the last few hours with N and the Shadow Triad. Once we had become enemies, the fears and anger that had once been buried was now showing all over my face. I was enraged, confused, mortified, and at one moment I felt so depressed. I felt so sick to my stomach after all the crap he and his group had put me through that I was afraid of it happening again.

Once I got out of this cave, I needed time to clear my head, and train _so_ much… So that I wouldn't lose my friends…

I just prayed that Bell wouldn't say anything to the guys… if they knew… they would have my hide a thousand times over…

"You knew this whole time, didn't you?" I raised my head when Bell allowed herself to speak to me. "Didn't you, Piper?"

I turned my head away from her. "Know what?"

 _I already knew what she wanted to know…_

I felt her hair whip against me when she turned. "N! How long did you know he was the king? Back in Nimbasa when we saw him? Back when you were kidnapped in Castelia?"

"I found out in Nimbasa…" My grip was limp at my side while her furious eyes bore into me. "N held hostage on the farris wheel. He took my xtransceiver and hid in his backpack when I ran into him, just before we entered and I found out. I tried to call the second I found out…"

Bell's eyes widened in realization. "So that's why…"

"I didn't dare tell anyone since I _knew_ how the guys would react. I didn't tell you because I _didn't_ know how you would react. I was furious with N when I first found out… I screeched out at him and nearly attacked him. I would have done more if I knew just how deep or dark his intentions were. I thought I could handle it…"

"Piper…" Bell partly turned around so she could wrap her small arms around me. It was nice to be held like that after all I was storing away inside of me. "You know we won't judge you if you ask for help. Ev and Izzy would never hate you."

"With the way my brother reacted when I was taken?" I pulled back to look at the smaller girl whose glossy orbs were captured by my own infuriated ones. "Everett would go on a rampage… and Izzy…"

Bell pulled back to face me. "And Izzy?"

I felt my shoulders give out and I leaned my head on her shoulder. "He'd never forgive me for letting that happen… For being that stupid and letting them get to me."

"Piper…" Bell tried to get me to lift my head to her. "Come on… you know Izzy wouldn't be a jerk like that, and the same with Everett…"

"Shit…" I croaked out and shook my head, trying to get rid of the tears and build back up the walls I'd had for so long. "Damn it they won't stop! Why won't they stop?! I don't want to feel like this…"

Bell fully turned around then so that we could face each other. I never felt so weak before her as everything of our journey and the emotional stress of N and his organization was finally taking its toll on myself. I couldn't do it anymore… All the walls I'd built up for all the years of my life behind the happy-go-lucky face was crumbling.

I should have known that was coming…

"Piper, it's okay. It's not a bad thing to cry." Bell tried to smile at me. "I cry all the time. And it's not bad for me to do it."

"I can't do it anymore Bell…" I gritted my teeth and felt something of a slick vine slide next to my face. I turned my head to face Ivy as she tried to comfort me. I leaned into her touch as the sobs racked my body. "I can't deal with this stupid drama… why can't I just have a normal pokemon journey? All I want to do is train my wonderful team and try to become the champion without a criminal organization after me and the ones I love…"

"Can't we do that now?" Bell questioned softly. "Isn't N gone now? Doesn't he want nothing to do with you?"

I lifted my head from her shoulder and sucked in a deep breath as I tried to explain things to her. "It's the opposite Bell. In all of the chaos here, I'm now Team Plasma's main target. N now has decided that I'm his number one opponent in this fight he's fighting for… and I have a terrible feeling that this is going to get _so_ much worse…"

"Piper…" Bell rubbed my arm and tried to consul me as I lowered my head back down and cried. "Maybe… we should ask for help? I have the number of that woman, Violet, I think her name was? Maybe she could-"

But Bell's words fell on deaf ears. The stress of the day and everything coming back to echo throughout my head was a magnitude of any and everything I had pushed away, to not feel. Everything had come at once, and not knowing how to handle it, all I could remember was my shoulders falling, my eyes rolling to the side before everything flashed black and I was no longer present.

 **Isadore's Point of View:**

It was many hours later before Everett and I finally made it to the pokemon center in the next town over. While Everett and I did battle other trainers to improve our teams, most of our time was spent in hopes of catching up with the girls. Upon seeing the light at the end of the cave, Everett and I could only sigh in relief as we had made it. The cave was very long, taking a good eight hours to clear, even at a rushed pace and battling few trainers.

Upon leaving the cave, quickly we saw the gate to the airport as a plan came in for a landing, carrying supplies and what not for the city and the rest of the region. We could see people heading out as soon as we passed the large central hub near the hangers for those that traveled along with the supplies. A city of many tall builds, lights were bright and reflected nearly in every corner of the city.

With the many lights that left the city well lit, even into the evening, Everett and I were able to find the pokemon center easily enough. Upon arriving, there was no one in the lower area other than Nurse Joy and her partner, Chansey, waiting to assist us and give us a room. We thanked her for the key and continued to move on our way to where we would sleep. It seemed we were later then we hoped to meet up with the girls and raticate them out.

Just before we could rise up the stairs, Bell stood there, halfway down them with eyes much more haunted then I'd ever seen before. Before either of us could question her, she held up a hand for us to be quiet. She shooed us backward and we stepped back to allow her to finish in her decent to the stairs. She urged us to move over to the couches and sat, waiting for us to do the same before she sighed at us.

"We have a lot we need to talk about…"

 **Witch's Note:**

 **Okay! Another chapter done! I'm so glad I was finally able to do this! I'd been working on it for a while, but I struggled with it for a bit, other than knowing exactly what I wanted to do which was N and Piper having their falling out and things getting worse for her as she has to deal with them.**

 **However, another emotional piece of Piper's past will come to the surface soon enough. Another piece that will suck in terms of her emotional self, since she's so used to pretending to be happy, when she's really not.**

 **But I also want to get off that sad note and thank you all so much for sticking with my story even though there have been late updates! Thank you all and I love the words of encouragement to keep going and keep writing. I love those so much, but do remember, that I also love when I get feedback on my work. When I hear about how you guys love my writing or like what I've done or how I improved, that really gets me into the mood to write a lot more. Just keep that in mind and hopefully you guys will leave me lots of reviews this time! Things are just really getting to Piper and she can't just be that happy kid anymore, just like Everett is angrier, Izzy softer and Bell more skittish.**

 **Love you all and hopefully soon I'll have out another chapter for you all! Please don't hate me!**

 _ **Halloween Witch**_


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